Pratibha defends foreign tours

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Thirteen days before her tenure comes to an end, Ms Pratibha Patil on Thursday looked back on her five years as President with a sense of satisfaction, dismissing as “illinformed” criticism of the expenditure on her foreign tours.

“I am leaving with a sense of satisfaction. The initiatives that I had taken during the last five years have got going, including one for the cause of women and another on farmers,” she said in an interaction with journalists.

Rejecting as “ill-informed” the criticism of the expenditure on her foreign tours, she said that the large number of visits undertaken by her were not on her own volition, but at the request of the government to promote India’s relations.

She noted such visits were necessary in a fast changing world as ties between countries were no longer only political in nature, but have different aspects like economic, educational and cultural.

Recalling that sometime back India was elected as non-permanent member of the UN Security Council with an overwhelming majority, she said that for this it was “very necessary” to make new friends and promote ties with the old ones.

Ms Patil’s defence came in the backdrop of reports that her wanderlust has cost the public exchequer Rs205 crore on her foreign visits, surpassing the record of all her predecessors.

Since assuming office as the country’s first woman President in July 2007, Ms Patil has undertaken 12 foreign trips covering 22 countries across four continents. Besides, in the last few months she had also visited South Africa and Seychelles.

Taking business delegations in her tours has always been hailed by Rashtrapati Bhavan as a “landmark” initiative of the President to promote economic diplomacy. The President insisted that the foreign visits were not pleasure tours, but serious business.

“They are not pleasure tours or ceremonial in nature, but are planned seriously to (promote bilateral ties),” she said.

She steered clear of questions on which have been the most difficult decisions for her at Rashtrapati Bhavan. “I do not want to fuel any controversy,” she said. She described Mr Pranab Mukherjee as a “deserving candidate” of the UPA in the presidential polls.

“Mukherjee is a deserving candidate. It is really a good decision to field him,” Ms Patil said. She was evasive on questions whether she planned to write an autobiography.

“I have not yet decided. I will first take some rest.”