Pranab to resign as finance minister on June 26

The presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee will resign from the Union finance ministry on June 26 to contest the elections. Mukherjee himself announced this at his native village of Miriti in Birbhum district on Saturday. He also announced that he will resign from the Congress Working Committee (CWC) too as ""I am no longer a Congress man.""

Mukherjee reached Kolkata last Friday night mainly to visit his ancestral home in Birbhum district. He reached Mitiri on Saturday afternoon and announced his decision to resign as the Union finance minister. Later he said that he will also quit the CWC as he is contesting for presidential elections. ""I will have to raise myself above politics as I am contesting the presidential polls,"" Mukherjee told Congress workers who had organised functions at several points between Kolkata and Kirnahar to greet him.