Reject Afzal Guru's mercy plea: Bal Thackeray appeals to Pranab Mukherjee

Mumbai: Pranab Mukherjee is yet to take oath as President, but expectations are rolling in already. The Shiv Sena, which offered unsolicited support to Mr Mukherjee's candidacy, has urged him to reject the mercy petition of Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for the terror attack on Parliament in December 2001. Twelve people were killed in the attack.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray wrote in the his party's mouthpiece, the "Saamna", "We have many expectations from you. We urge you to reject Afzal Guru's mercy plea and hang him. Pranab da you should do this on priority basis and should kick-start your career as President of India. It is an august conduct that we expect from you."

The new President will inherit more than 10 mercy petitions from prisoners on death row. Mr Mukherjee, who will be sworn in as India's 13th President on Wednesday, will have to decide what becomes of these mercy petitions, some of which have major political ramifications. For example, Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is in jail in Punjab for the assassination of former chief minister Beant Singh, is treated as a martyr and paid lavish tribute by the Sikh clergy.

Mr Mukherjee was declared winner of the Presidential elections last evening. He won with 69.31 per cent votes of the electoral college, polling 713,937 of the total 10,29,924 votes. His opponent Purno Sangma had 315,987 votes or 30.69 per cent of the total votes.

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The Shiv Sena had supported Mr Mukherjee's presidential candidature, going against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its ally in the NDA.