Decision on Rajan extension without influence of any factor: Arun Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley parried a question on BJP MP Subramanian Swamy’s demand for immediate sacking of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan saying the Government and RBI are responsible institutions and decisions will be taken without being influenced by “any other factor.”

“I think what is important are issues, not personalities. Secondly whether what happens to the RBI Governor second term or no second term, what his own views on the issue are, are these matters to be discussed in public,” he said.

The government, he said, is a very responsible institution and so is RBI. “We will take our decisions without being influenced by



any other factor,” he said.

He was asked about Swamy writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking immediate sacking of the former IMF Chief Economist alleging that Rajan was “mentally not fully Indian” and has “wilfully” wrecked the economy.

Jaitley said the Reserve Bank and the Finance Ministry have “very mature level of consultation” and it wasn’t fair to comment on them. “I can tell you, the RBI and the finance ministry, I have always used this word very consciously, very mature level of consultation and its not fair that anyone of us to comment on those issues that we discussed in public space,” he said.