Kolkata, Jul 7: Contrary to the claims of opposition-backed Presidential candidate P A Sangma that his rival Pranab Mukherjee still hold two offices of profit as chairman of Rabindra Bharati Society and vice-president of an engineering institute in Birbhum, officials of the two bodies today said he had resigned much earlier.
Kolkata-based Rabindra Bharati Society's secretary Nabakumar Sil told PTI here that Mukherjee had resigned as the Society's Chairman on June 20, much before filing his nomination for Presidential elections. “Pranab Mukherjee resigned on June 20 and we had accepted it immediately,” he said.
Pointing out that the post of Chairman was an honorary one, its Secretary said “this is a completely apolitical post. Mukherjee was made the Chairman in April 2008 as an educationist and not by virtue of being a politician or a minister.”
He also said the former Union Finance Minister was not paid any honorarium.
When contacted, Ramchandra Dome, Secretary of the Institute, said Mukherjee had resigned from the post in 2004. “Before contesting for the Jangipur Lok Sabha seat in 2004, he had resigned. But somehow his name has remained on our website. We will remove it,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Sangma filed a complaint with the Election Commission that besides the post at Rabindra Bharati Society, Mukherjee also held another office of profit as vice-president of Birbhum Institute of Engineering and Technology.
Swaraj claimed the difference in signatures of Pranab Mukherjee in his nomination papers and the resignation letter was “clearly discernible” and “even a small kid can spot the difference between Mukherjee's signature on his nomination papers and the resignation letter submitted to the Returning Officer”.
Swaraj said what substantiated their charges against Mukherjee was the date on the resignation letter and questioned how was it possible that a letter sent to the ISI on June 20 reached Kolkata the very same day, accepted and reached back Delhi.
“The resignation letter has no official seal of the ISI on it and instead it was written on the letterhead of the Finance Minister”, said Swaraj, adding neither the Finance Minister nor the ISI had made any official entry of the letter in its records.
Asked if BJP would submit a complaint to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) against the order of the Returning Officer rejecting Sangma's objections and demand to disqualify Mukherjee, Swaraj said it was for Sangma to decide.
