Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has kept the Finance Ministry with himself, while making Vilasrao Deshmukh the additional in-charge of the Steel Ministry, sources said on Tuesday.

Pranab Mukherjee met Prime Minister at his 7 Race Course Road residence and resigned as India’s Finance Minister today.

Accepting his resignation, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has written a letter to Shri Pranab Mukherjee in response to his resignation tendered today. Following is the text of the PM’s letter: 

“I have received your letter of June 26, 2012 resigning from the Union Cabinet. I have forwarded your resignation to Rashtrapatiji with the recommendation that it be accepted with immediate effect.

Our government owes a deep debt of gratitude to you for your invaluable contribution to its work over the last eight years. It is a testimony to your extraordinary abilities and your stature in public life that you have carried on onerous range of responsibilities with ease and accomplishment. Our colleagues in the Cabinet and I have benefitted from your wise counsel on innumerable occasions and we will all deeply miss your presence amidst us. We hope to see you occupy the exalted position of President next month and are confident that our country and people will continue to benefit from your wisdom, knowledge and decades of experience in public life.

I wish you success in the election to the highest office in the country. I also wish you sustained good health and happiness in the years to come.”