Pranab will be a wonderful President: Kaushik Basu

New Delhi: Lauding Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for his erudition and ability to concentrate on work at hand, among other qualities, Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu on Friday said he would be a "wonderful" President.

"He (Mukherjee) is a person of great erudition... knowledge and for a President (that) is exactly what you need. He is just wonderful at that," Basu said on the sidelines of an event organised by IMI here.

He further said it is with amazing concentration that he would do his fiscal policy, Finance Ministry work when he had 10 other political jobs.

Pranab would resign before he files nomination for the election after the Prime Minister\'s return from his nine-day foreign trip.

On who would become the next Finance Finance Minister if Mukherjee becomes President, Basu said, "We have (many) people, so hopeful (that) someone good will step in in his shoes...it would be (a) very hard act to follow him".

Mukherjee would resign before he files nomination for the election after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's return from his nine-day foreign trip on June 23, according to MoS in the PMO, V Narayanasamy.

Indications are that Singh would keep the Finance portfolio with himself for some time if Mukherjee moves to the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

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