A smiling Mukherjee watched as Sinha, followed by a few other members in the Lok Sabha, suggested that they were expecting him to become the next President.
"At the outset I wish to place my views with an apology. If the Finance Minister moves to the big house on the other side after this session, then he will not keep anything against me for whatever I am going to say today," Sinha said initiating debate on Finance Bill moved by Mukherjee.
"Sir, if I get any chance, then he will not reject me," he said.
As Sinha, himself a former Finance Minister, said Mukherjee perhaps won't be there to reply to certain suggestions made by the Parliamentary panel on Finance, the Finance Minister shot back: "Are you determined to remove me from the Finance Ministry?"
Ending his debate, Sinha said, "We wish you well personally. We wish you a very bright future. We wish that you will continue to serve this country, in whatever capacity, for many years to come."
B Mahtab (BJP) hoped to see Mukherjee during the next Budget session "walk down the Central Hall and address joint sitting."
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Expressing similar sentiments, Hukum Dev Narain Yadav (BJP) said he wanted Mukherjee to address the joint sitting at the beginning of Budget session next year.
Shailendra Kumar (SP) too wished Mukherjee well.