There shouldn't by any controversy over Manmohan Singh's death, says Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit

Abhijit Mukherjee made the comments after his sister Sharmistha Mukherjee said she felt bad when no CWC meeting was convened after her father's demise.

New Delhi: There should be no controversy surrounding the death of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Abhijit Mukherjee, son of former president Pranab Mukherjee, said on Monday.

The remarks come after his sister Sharmistha Mukherjee said she felt bad when no CWC meeting was convened after her father's demise. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the highest decision-making body of the party.

"There should be absolutely no controversy surrounding the death of someone like Dr Manmohan Singh. He was an economist and a personality about whom no amount of praise would ever be enough.

"In my father's language, a perfect gentleman, I have never seen him (Manmohan Singh) get angry. Whenever I met him, he was smiling, a soothing personality and a father figure," Abhijit Mukherjee told PTI videos.

"He stabilized the Indian economy when it was in doldrums, he laid the foundation of Indian economy. A reformer like Dr Manmohan Singh will likely never come again," he said.

Sharmistha Mukherjee, in an interview with PTI Videos, said on Sunday that decay has set in the Congress and stressed the need for serious introspection on the "sad state of affairs" in the party.

She lamented that several old Congress workers feel alienated from the party today due to the current state of affairs and the lack of an ideology among the top leaders.

She also raised questions as to why no CWC meeting was convened after her father's death and a resolution passed.

"The Congress has to answer for this. I can only state the fact. But I would like to just add, I do not know whether it was deliberate or sheer negligence. What are the conventions in such a grand old party?" she asked.

Sharmistha Mukherjee also pitched for a memorial for Manmohan Singh and said Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country, should also be conferred on the former prime minister posthumously.

Singh passed away at the AIIMS here on December 26. He was 92.