BJP, RSS men lobbied for Rajan ouster: Veerappa Moily

RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s decision not to seek a second term triggered fresh accusations from the Opposition against the BJP and the RSS. On Sunday, the Congress alleged that some of their (BJP, RSS) leaders were lobbying against him while calling it the “most unpleasant thing” for the country.

Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily said the present regime does not deserve a person of Mr Rajan’s stature.

“I don’t know the reason. Of course it is well-known to him. But the manner in which some of the BJP spokespersons and also commerce minister Nirmala

Sitharaman and... Also one important leader Subramanian Swamy... Some of these people including Nagpur RSS camp (were) lobbying against him,” Mr Moily said.

Terming it as the “most unpleasant thing” for the country, he said, “I think in the present context of the governance and also the present regime, I think they do not deserve a person of his level. He is a global person. I think the country was endowed by him”.

Taking a dig at the Modi government, another Congress leader Manish Tewari said, “Given choices of this govt — Gajendra Chauhan to Chetan Chauhan — may appoint #VijayMallyasRBIGov. Has great experience of banking system ” Mr Tewari tweeted, adding that the government had “hounded” a good man as it did not have the courage to ask him (Raghuram Rajan) to leave.

On Saturday, Mr Tewari had ridiculed the government for appointing cricketer Chetan Chauhan as chairman of the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology.

“It seems that the government wants to convert the NIFT into the national institute of cricket technology,” Mr Tewari had said.

Mr Chauhan, he had said, “has a fair amount of experience in the DDCA which has faced multiple inquiries”.