PRANAB MUKHERJEE who has a fair chance of becoming the 13th President of India is also a village boy like P. A. Sangma. In an interview to NDTV in 2009 he described himself as “a village boy”. He remains so after all the opportunities and temptations before him as a Finance and Foreign minister of the country.

 
He has never been left out of the Cabinet and has always been the number 2 in the Congress government, be it Indira’s or Rajiv’s or in Sonia’s time. In spite of the quarrel with the Congress over the questions of assassinators of Rajiv and the distance created that time, Pranab has been in the meshes of Congress politics.
 
But his prolonged years of politics have not made him affluent. In his youth as in his middle age, Mukherjee remains a village boy. Life is easy and simple for this senior citizen of Kirnahar even today when he contests for the post of the first citizen. His relatives live a simple village life. His house at Kirnahar reflects his simple lifestyle - ‘a life of plain living, high thinking’. His honesty and integrity are above all questions. His impartial outlook has made him famous.
 
Today Mamata is very aggrieved with him not for any personal reason, but because Mukherjee has not done any partiality to West Bengal. As the son of the soil, he should have given a special economic package unconditionally. Earlier, Abu Barkat Ali Gani Khan did such things as the Railway Minister. Mamata as the Railway minister also did that. But Mukherjee has never done such things. This is also the reason why he can come out of Congress politics of decades of Congress companionship. He is the number two man in Congress. But he can easily resign and say it honestly that he has no party.
 
Like A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Pranab Mukherjee is a party less man after June 26. He can appeal parties outside UPA unhesitatingly for support. Only because he is Pranab Mukherjee, he can do such things. Life is difficult for him in the Party confinement. So he is criticized by some, and yet admired by many. After a long time India is getting such a Presidential candidate who in spite of being a party candidate is not in the party. He is above the party.
 
His fantastic memory and administrative skills impressed Indira Gandhi. He explained to her the necessity for the nationalization of the banks. He is the best crisis manager of the Congress. The personal has never encroached over his political life after the tea table session till his bedtime. He has the greatest acceptability among all the political parties and that has an exceptional edge. He has been a loyal party member and the senior-most member of the Congress working committee.
 
The Presidential Election is most prestigious fight for him. He will be without a political party after his submission of the resignation from Ministry on June 26. In a real sense he will be a man without party. While Sangma has been forced to identify himself with the Tribals for gaining political mileage, Pranab Mukherjee is much more transparent. He being a village boy, never say that he has nothing with town or the rich people. He is of all, the village and the town people, the tribals and the non -tribals, the Congress and the non -Congress. Even remaining so close to the UPA he already got the support from many Non-UPA members.