In 1986 , Mukherjee founded another party , the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress ( RSC ) , in West Bengal . The RSC and INC merged three years later after reaching a compromise with Rajiv Gandhi . The RSC had fared terribly in the 1987 Assembly polls in West Bengal . Many analysts , over the years , have attributed the muting of Mukherjee 's political aspirations as the supreme leader due to his inability to emerge as a magnetic mass leader . On later being asked that did he ever desire to become Prime Minister , Mukherjee , however , replied , " 7 RCR was never my destination . " The Zee News noted : " The statement assumes heft in the light of the longstanding speculation that Mukherjee , as one of the doyens of Congress , always nursed an ambition to occupy the top executive post . " Mukherjee 's political career revived following Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 when P. V. Narasimha Rao chose to appoint him as deputy chairman of the Indian planning commission and subsequently as a union cabinet minister . Mukherjee served as External Affairs Minister for the first time from 1995 to 1996 in Rao 's cabinet
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
Pranab Mukherjee