Click to play videoNew Delhi: He is United Progressive Alliance's man for all seasons but has always laughed away suggestions of becoming the prime minister.
Now Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has the chance of creating his own legacy and could even reaffirm that he is here to stay as the second in command in the UPA.
"The potential is in number of people. I do believe that India has number of persons who have the prime ministerial material and who have the potential but it depends how after the elections parties are going to choose their leaders. So, there are many unavoidable steps which everyone will have to take," Pranab Mukherjee had told CNN-IBN in an exclusive interview on January 11, 2009.
"I am talking about the younger generation. I am talking about people young in age. I have crossed 73, yes I was young in the 70s," Mukherjee had replied when asked if he saw himself as the future prime minister.
He may have laughed at his possibility of becoming the prime minister before the polls but Mukherjee continues to perform the most critical jobs within the UPA Government.
A few months back he presented an Interim Budget which many thought would be the UPA's ticket to return to power.
Now for the second time in his career he will be presenting the Union Budget as a full fledged Finance Minister.
With global economy not showing any immediate signs of recovery, expectations from Mukherjee are sky high within the country.
But managing crisis has almost become second nature for Mukherjee in his previous stint.
Mukherjee headed 54 Group of Ministers in the previous government. He was the head of the Congress manifesto committee and is also the President of West Bengal PCC.
He was the minister of external affairs, responsible for the post 26 / 11 diplomatic offensive.
Now he has to decide how he brings back the positive sentiment within the economy.
Rationalisation of taxes while not doing away totally with the subsidies will be his biggest challenge.
Within UPA's power structure he is second to the Prime Minister.
Right through the last five years, many wondered if he should not have become the prime minister.
With Manmohan Singh's stamp now firmly evident on the Congress and the UPA that debate has been settled.
But the man who started off as a professor of history and political science still has a chance of creating his own legacy by presenting a real feel good Budget.
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