The election of Pratibha Patil as the country's first woman President has gladdened Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, the first woman to contest for the post.
Speaking to PTI in Kanpur at the residence of her daughter and former MP Subhashini Ali, the 90-year-old veteran freedom fighter said, "Mujhe is baat ka gam nahi hai ki mein desh ki pahali mahila Rashtrapati na ban saki, lekin is baat ke bahut khushi hai ke aaj Pratibha Patil desh ki pahali mahila Rashtrapati ho gai hai" (I don't regret not becoming the first woman President. In fact I am extremely happy that Pratibha Patil has been elected to the post).
Sehgal expressed the hope that Patil's election will help in getting more attention to various problems faced by women and an early solution to them.
Expressing happiness at political parties fielding a woman for the top post, she said she also expected some forward movement on the women's reservation issue in the next six months.
A leader of the Indian National Army and a close follower of Subhash Chandra Bose during the freedom movement, she contested as the Left parties' candidate against APJ Abdul Kalam in the 2002 presidential election.