Breaking her silence, UPA-Left presidential nominee Pratibha Patil on Wednesday put out a signed statement dismissing as 'motivated' allegations against her and said the campaign for the July 19 poll should not demean the dignity of the highest office.
Patil, who has chosen not to respond to the spate of allegations by the National Democratic Alliance-led Opposition, said her nomination papers have been found to be valid after scrutiny.
'I am now formally a candidate for the highest office of the nation,' she said in her brief one page statement, which came after she was advised by senior Congress leaders not to speak to the media in the run up to the presidential election.
While Congress spokespersons have been stoutly rebutting Opposition allegations in connection with her role in a cooperative bank she had set up, Patil has in the past few days chosen not to react.
'In my over five decades of public life, I have always endeavoured to be true to my conscience. All the allegations against me are motivated and have already been answered,' she said.
She said, 'under no circumstances should the campaign, directly or indirectly, demean the dignity of the highest office.'
In her statement issued soon after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended, Patil said if elected she shall discharge her duties and responsibilities consistent with the Constitutional schemes and conventions established by her 'illustrious and distinguished predecessors.'
Seventy-two-year-old Patil, who resigned as Rajasthan Governor, said that it was a 'distinct honour' to be a candidate to occupy the highest office of the world's largest democracy.
'I shall seek the votes of the electoral college in a spirit of humility,' Patil, who has numbers on her side in the direct contest with NDA-backed 'independent' candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, said.
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