New Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance has been in power for the last five years but running the government and keeping the alliance together has not been an easy task.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the toughest job he has ever faced is to make the UPA coalition work.
Speaking at the CNN-IBN Indian Of The Year awards on Monday, Mukherjee said that the Congress has proved its critics wrong by successfully running a coalition government at the Centre.
"There was a widespread belief that Congress cannot run a coalition government. So I would say running the coalition till the very end was a tough job. I too made my humble contribution to it," said Mukherjee.
Mukherjee also gave away the CNN-IBN Indian Of The Year awards to the winners in a glittering ceremony in New Delhi on Monday night.
The chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation G Madhavan Nair and his team of scientists instrumental in putting Chandrayaan into space collectively won the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2008 award.
The other winners included Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (Indian of the Year, politics), actor Aamir Khan (IOTY- Cinema), HDFC’s Aditya Puri (IOTY-Business), Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra (IOTY- Sports).
Winners also included actor Dilip Kumar who was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by southern superstar Mohanlal and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who was given the Special Achievement Award for winning the third consecutive election in Delhi.
A special award for Extraordinary Service to the Nation was also conferred on Constable Tukaram Ombale, the man who caught Kasab on 26/11, and the Mumbai Police for their extraordinary bravery during the terror strikes.
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