There is feeling among a section of the media, that Pranab Mukherjee our President elect, is perhaps the man who deserved to be Prime Minister   but could not become for obvious reasons of mistrust amongst the first family. I should confess I believed that besides being a loyalist of Indira Gandhi which he   proclaims even today, Pranab da did not have the credentials to become the PM of India. Devegowda, Gujral, and even MMS are aberrations. But the stature and respect that he commands across political spectrum which became evident when even he managed to get more votes in Karnataka than what was expected and he even managed to get the votes of Jagan Mohan Reddy faction ( who are bitter rivals to the congress party now) made me to have a fresh analysis of the man who was till the other day the principal trouble shooter for the Congress. Pranab da managed to get support from left Parties as well from Mamta didi. Mulayam and Mayawati also lined up to support him. Pawar expelled Sangma for daring to contest against him. Nitish and Sharad together with Thackerays straying away from NDA also was a pointer to his stature and appeal.  I also believe partly that he was made UPA’s choice due to circumstances because Sonia realized late that her preference for Hameed Ansari could not carry more support. She probably feared that in the event of a hung parliament yet again, Pranab could play spoil sport. But to be fair to her, she realized her folly and did amends in a remarkably fast pace that even Mamta with all her vitriolic attacks on Pranabda, had to come and join the UPA-II and vote for dada. To day she has assured to participate in the swearing in.

Forget for a moment ,the tirades of Arvind Kejriwal who has announced that he will produce evidences to prove the charges against the new President, Pranab da has endeared himself to all political parties and even BJP could have consented to his unanimous election, but for the younger elements like Sushma arguing to build bridges with erstwhile allies, BJD and AIADMK by putting up a token fight, That they are wrong will be proven by history in 2014.

Pranab da was a unmitigated disaster as Finance Minister in UPA-II but still he was there to douse fire every time a crisis engulfed the ruling dispensation. He could talk to Comrades and Didi with equal ease and was always at ease with BJP with Yashwant Sinha patting him on the back for all his efforts in running the house. This proves that there is a lot of potential prime ministerial talents within the Congress party none of them could probably be vote catchers. Just as Narasimha rao proved to be a successful Prime minister who ran a minority government with aplomb with his brand of consultative politics and consensus building Pranab could have been the one who could probably have given the nation his vast experience in running the Government and provided the badly needed leadership which MMS seriously lacks.

It is also alleged in the media that the swoop on Jagan Mohan Reddy by using CBI for disproportionate assets as if to intimidate him was under the advice of Home Minister Chidambaram. If it is true, that shows the political immaturity of the Home Minister whereas Pranab da managed to get votes from that faction which detests the party more than anyone else. Sonia could as well use him to build bridges with Jagan Mohan else face an imminent wipe out in AP in 2014.

It was also alleged in a section of the media that Pranab was sulking to work under a man whom he appointed as RBI Governor. He was right and entitled to his opinion. That he chose to work under him in the best interests of the party shows the conviction of the man. That the PM had to rely on him for all his political battles shows the  mettle of Pranab da.

I believe now, Pranab da was unlucky not to have been projected as PM by his party and the nation is poorer to that extent.