Leaders across party lines condole Pranab Mukherjee's passing away

Kolkata: Former President Pranab Mukherjee died in the Army Hospital in Delhi on Monday.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar tweeted: "Deeply condole the death of former President Bharat Ratna Pranab Mukherjee. An era has

come to an end. A colossus in public life has left us. He

served Mother India with statesman spirit like a sage rising above partisan politics. Nation has lost a great statesman."

Amal Mukhopadhyay, former Principal of Presidency College and a friend of Pranab Mukherjee from his student days said: "He was a voracious reader. He did his post graduation in Political science and History. He was a real statesman and had tackled many critical political situation maintaining his cool."

Subrata Mukherjee said: "I knew Pranab da from 1972 when he left Bangla Congress and joined Congress. He was vey close to Indira Gandhi and played an important role in bank's nationalisation."

Saugata Roy said: "He became a Rajya Sabha member in 1969 and for the next 15 years he had served the country as the Finance minister, External Affairs minister

and Defence minister. I had very cordial relation with

him."

Pradip Bhattacharya said: "He was a stalwart and had attained nirvana in politics.

He was a great crisis man and the bhisma in Congress politics."

Samik Lahiri former CPI(M) MP said: "I came close to him during the UPA I government. He asked me to see him after 10pm at his residence and listened to the demands I had raised with patience. He was a voracious reader and had very sharp memory."