Pranab right to be upset at my elevation as PM: Manmohan

Manmohan Singh on Friday said ex-President Pranab Mukherjee had every reason to have a grievance on his selection as the Prime Minister after Congress-led UPA came to power in 2004.
 
At the same time, Singh said both he and Mukherjee were aware that “I had no choice in this matter”.
 
Singh, who served two consecutive terms as prime minister, also said the Mukherjee was better suited for the coveted post as he was “better qualified”.
 
“He is a politician by choice and it comes naturally to him... I became a politician by accident,” Singh said at a function to release Mukherjee's book 'The Coalition Years: 1996-2012'. The function was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her deputy Rahul Gandhi, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, DMK leader Kanimozhi and CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy.
 
“When I was chosen by Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister, both I and Pranab Mukherjee knew I had no choice in this matter,” Singh said.
 
Singh hailed Mukherjee as the greatest parliamentarians and pointed out that his appointment as prime minister did not impact the relations between them.
 
In the book, Mukherjee has written that he had a “vague” feeling that Sonia wanted to nominate Singh as the President in 2012 and make him the prime minister.
 
Singh said Mukherjee had the knack to tackle various issues and he devised the concept of Group of Ministers to deal with ticklish matters and “invariably put him (Mukherjee) on the job” as chairperson.