Former president Pranab Mukherjee passes away: A look at his five-decade long political career

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Often described as the quintessential 'Man Friday' of the Congress party, Mukherjee has had the rare distinction of having served at different times as foreign, defence and finance minister.

However, there was a brief period during Mukherjee's career, after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, when he fell out of favour with Rajiv Gandhi. Left out in the cold for quite some time, he formed a splinter group -- the Rashtriya Samajwadi Party in 1986. But this party died a quick death as it went on to merge with the Indian National Congress in 1989.

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In his long political career spanning over half a century, the Congress leader held various posts and served the country in various capacities.

Pranab Mukherjee has also had a seat at the table of various international organisations, with memberships in the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. He also presided over the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation on various occasions.

Other than this, he also authored several books during the course of his lifetime. In 2019, he was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by President Ram Nath Kovind.