Differences with Manmohan Singh were purely professional, recalls President Pranab Mukherjee in autobiography

His differences with Manmohan Singh have always been talked about, but honourable president of India Pranab Mukherjee has claimed that he had no role in Singh's exit as the RBI Governor. He also stated that the differences between him and the central bank head were nothing more than legitimate exchanges of opinion over purely professional matters.

In his autobiography, Mukherjee has also asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should individually go and meet industrialists. He then stated that in his tenure as the FM, his meetings with industrialists, either individual or collective, were very important.

He also stated that VP Singh, who served as the Minister of Finance from 31 December 1984 to 23 January 1987 was "adamant" about not meeting industrialists one-on-one.

Talking about the socially and politically unstable period of 1998 to 1991, Mukherjee has mentioned of differences in approach that he and V P Singh carried.

"For instance, as Finance Minister, he was adamant about not having any one-on-one meetings with industrialists. My view--which I followed during my tenures as the Finance and Commerce Ministers--was that meetings with industrialists, individually or collectively, were very important to get an overall understanding of specific contexts. In other words, how can a Finance Minister or Prime Minister not meet industrialists?," the President asked in the book, called "The Turbulent Years- 1980-1996". Mukherjee was the FM before Singh took charge of the post.

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