Kolkata: President Pranab Mukherjee Saturday curtailed his stay at his ancestral village in West Bengal and returned to Delhi in view of the forecast for cyclone Phailin.

The president was in Mirati village in Birbhum district to celebrate the Durga Puja festival.

Mukherjee told reporters in the district that he was rushing back to Delhi because of the cyclonic weather so as to be in time for the Dussehra celebrations at Ram Lila ground in Delhi Sunday.

Sources in the state government said Mukherjee visited the house of his elder sister Annapurna Devi at Kirnahar town earlier in the day and from there left for Panagarh before flying to Delhi in the evening.