Pranab Mukerjee kicks off campaign

Mangalore Today/ PTI

Chennai, June 30, 2012: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) nominee for the Presidential election Pranab Mukherjee kick-started his campaign on Saturday in Tamil Nadu amid heart-warming reception by the DMK and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, saying that he believed in numbers and not in miracles.

 

 

“There is no scope for any miracle; after all an election is a question of numbers,” Pranab Mukherjee said in a media interaction, after seeking the blessings of the 89-year-old DMK leader M Karunanidhi at his residence here. During the grand welcome given to him by the TNCC at its head quarters in Sathyamurthy Bhavan, Mukherjee renewed his call for support to the undecided parties including the UPA ally Mamata Banerjee.Besides TNCC office-bearers, the function was attended by Central ministers from Tamil Nadu Home Minister P Chidambaram, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, Shipping Minister G K Vasan, MoS in the PMO V Narayanasamy and other leaders from the state and neighbouring Pondicherry.

Mukherjee sought to send out the message projecting him as a unifying figure. He told reporters after the TNCC meeting that the President “represents the integrated, united image of India”, which went beyond all caste, religion, language and ethnicity. It is that strong underlying unity that “has kept this vast multitude of human beings into one nation.”

“This is the beauty of Indian democracy and the President symbolised that democratic spirit which is the best of Indian ethos and civilization value,” Mukherjee said. To a query he was even in a mood to reach out to smaller parties in Tamil Nadu like Vijayakant’s DMDK, CPI and Vaiko-led MDMK to “support the UPA’s candidature” for the President’s post.

After exchanging bouquets and garlands with the DMK Chief, Karunanidhi took Mukherjee in his own car to a star hotel nearby where he interacted with other DMK party men over dinner.Explaining why he began his campaign in Tamil Nadu, Mukherjee recalled his long years of association with Karunanidhi, “who over five decades has been serving the country.” DMK MPs T R Baalu and Kanimozhi were among those who received Pranab in front of  Karunanidhi’s house where a group of girls from the North-East came around in small circles to perform a traditional “harathi” to the Presidential candidate. When Mukherjee was asked by a reporter whether as President he would expedite the decision on the mercy petitions against the three killers of Rajiv Gandhi awaiting death penalty in the Vellore prison, he shot back saying he did not have to worry about carving out work priorities for himself if elected, as the Indian Constitution had clearly spelt out the powers and responsibilities of the President.