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I`m clear about my constitutional duties: Kalam
New Delhi, July 21: President elect APJ Abdul Kalam says he is very clear that President has to protect the Constitution and he is not unduly worried about criticism that he is a political novice or has the strong backing of Sangh Parivar to his nomination.
Seventy-one-year-old Avul Pakir Jainalabudeen Abdul Kalam, who will soon occupy the country's best known address, Rashtrapati Bhawan, still receives every visitor at the door and sees them off at his modest DRDO Guest House in Asiad Village in south Delhi.
During an interview, he was asked about his priorities and how he was preparing to handle perhaps the toughest job of his life.
"It is very clear. There is a constitutional requirement. The President has to ensure that the constitutional aspects are protected."
Asked about criticism about the strong backing given by Sangh Parivar to his initial nomination as the Presidential candidate, he said, "all one billion people in India are my friends. There is no difference between one and the other to me."
In his trademark style he repeated, "all one billion people in India are my friends" and asked the reporter to answer, "how many billion people do we have"?
About left parites criticism that he was a political novice for Presidential post, Kalam said, he was not new to politics.
Bureau Report