Kolkata: UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee Monday said any aspirant to the exalted post has to live up to the standards set by the founding fathers of modern India.
Citing the examples of Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr Savepalli Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Hussain and their successors, he said, it would be his endeavour to live up to the standards they set and traditions they established with utmost sincerity.
Noting that he was schooled in politics by the pro-poor commitment of Indira Gandhi, Mukherjee in his address to Left legislators of the CPI(M), FB, SP and DSP in the assembly premises here said, "It remains my dream to eliminate the last vestiges of that terrifying affliction called poverty within our lifetimes."
Mukherjee said the passage of a nation`s life could never be continuously free from disputation.
"This makes it imperative that we set aside differences and unite to serve the nation."
He said that he began his public life from his ancestral village in Bengal and that it was human to admit with a tinge of sentiment that his freedom fighter father Kamda Kinkar and mother Rajalaksmi, inspired him towards public service.
PTI
