“This is the highest constitutional post and the President’s election will be held according to the Constitution. The Congress party and the UPA have given the responsibility of selecting the candidate to the UPA chairperson, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. When she takes a decision, you will come to know,” Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said, adding that he had nothing more to say on the matter. Mr Mukherjee was commenting on the observation of a journalist that the people of the country, as well as the Bengalis of the state, wanted to see him become President.
Earlier in Kolkata, he said the decision on the presidential candidate would be taken by the Congress. “It is decided by the party. It is the party which nominates. No one can become President of his own wish,” he added.
The long meeting between Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Mr Ahmed Patel, and Mr Mukherjee at his North Block office on Friday evening triggered strong speculation about the Union finance minister becoming the presidential candidate. Mrs Gandhi is expected to announce the name next week.
Meanwhile, Mr Mukherjee conveyed the good news that petrol prices were likely to come down following a reduction in the rate of crude in the international market. The oil companies had on May 24 hiked petrol prices by `7.54 a litre, the steepest hike ever. Later, the price was cut by `2.02 a litre.
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Remove textbook cartoon: Karuna
Age Correspondent
chennai, June 9
The controversial cartoon on anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu in the NCERT textbook has raised a storm in the state with DMK chief M. Karunanidhi joining other political parties demanding its removal.
“The cartoon drawn by R. K. Laxman, published in Class 12 political science book should be removed as it depicted the student agitators against Hindi in a poor light and gave an impression that they neither knew English nor Hindi,” the DMK leader said in a statement on Saturday.
“The 1938 and 1965 anti-Hindi agitations are moments of pride for DMK. The cartoon ridiculing such a movement would agitate and infuriate the people of the state,” he said and urged the Centre to immediately remove the cartoon. “The Centre should intervene and ensure it is removed from the textbooks to respect the sentiments of Tamils,” the DMK leader, whose party is a key ally of the UPA, said.
He recalled that the anti-Hindi agitation marked a watershed in state’s politics with DMK making it a focal point of its movement that ultimately brought the DMK to power, ending the Congress era in 1967. He himself as a boy, in 1938, had led a series of protests, holding placards and singing a song against Hindi, he recalled.