When I Was New To Delhi, Pranab Da Held My Finger, Guided Me: PM Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed much gratitude for President Pranab Mukherjee, calling him a "guardian and mentor" who held his finger and guided him on various subjects when he took over as Prime Minister two years ago.

"I was new to the world of Delhi. The atmosphere was new to me. On many subjects, the President, like a guardian, a mentor, held my finger and guided me. Very few people are as privileged as I am," PM Modi said while inaugurating the second phase of a museum at the Rashtrapati Bhavan as President Mukherjee completed four years in office on Monday,

He said efforts are made to implement almost all his government's schemes at the President's Estate - which he called a "village with a population of over 10,000." Even those schemes, he said, which some state governments hesitate to announce.

"If there is a government of a person from a different political party and yet the schemes of that government become schemes of the Rashtrapati Bhavan - this greatness can only be shown by Pranab da," the Prime Minister said.

He noted that his political background is very different from that of the President, but "we can feel every moment in his company how people with different political upbringing can work shoulder to shoulder in a democracy."

PM Modi said President Mukherjee, who was a Congress leader, has given a lot to the nation in his long public life and has, in the last four years, made the Rashtrapati Bhavan a converging point between the common man and the highest seat of power.