Pranab does not hold office of profit: Govt

Rejecting P A Sangma's claim and objection, the government on Monday said that the United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee resigned as the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute a week before he filed his nomination in the President's election and does not not hold any office of profit.

"He (Mukherjee) had resigned as chairman of the ISI on June 20, a week before he filed his nominations," Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal told PTI shortly after Sangma's camp filed a petition seeking cancellation of the

United Progressive Alliance's candidate's nomination on grounds of holding an office of profit.

Bansal, the authorised representative of Mukherjee, said he and Home Minister P Chidambaram met Mukherjee after Sangma's claim and they were told by him of his resignation well in advance of filing the nomination.

"Pranab Mukherjee would be filing a written reply to the returning officer by 3 pm on Tuesday," the parliamentary affairs minister said.

Bansal said Sangma's claim was factually incorrect, legally ill-conceived and untenable.