When Congress “humiliated” Pranab Mukherjee and then welcomed him back

Apr 22, 2025 | 20:11 IST

In April 1986, Congress expelled senior leader Pranab Mukherjee for allegedly plotting a revolt. Amid bomb threats and political isolation, he launched a quiet comeback — ultimately rising to hold every top post, including the presidency

Thirty-nine years ago, on the evening of April 26, 1986, Pranab Mukherjee sat in the basement study of his heavily fortified Greater Kailash bungalow in New Delhi, aware that he had been shunted out from the Grand Old Party.

Once the second-most powerful man in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet and her most trusted political aide, Mukherjee was now almost an overnight political pariah. The Congress Working Committee had expelled him in what many saw as a calculated political move.

TOI

TOI

When Congress “humiliated” Pranab Mukherjee and then welcomed him back

In April 1986, Congress expelled senior leader Pranab Mukherjee for allegedly plotting a revolt. Amid bomb threats and political isolation, he launched a quiet comeback — ultimately rising to hold every top post, including the presidency

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TOI

When Congress “humiliated” Pranab Mukherjee and then welcomed him back

In April 1986, Congress expelled senior leader Pranab Mukherjee for allegedly plotting a revolt. Amid bomb threats and political isolation, he launched a quiet comeback — ultimately rising to hold every top post, including the presidency

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