New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today backed Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian, who has come under attack from BJP MP Subramanian Swamy.
“Government has full confidence in CEA Arvind Subramanian. He has provided valuable insights from time to time,” Jaitley said.
When specifically asked about party’s view, he said that the BJP has already distanced itself from Swamy’s demand of sacking Arvind Subramanian.
Earlier, party national secretary Shrikant Sharma had said that “the party does not agree with his views and it is completely his personal opinion.”
On controversy over RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s exit amid Swamy’s demand to remove him from the top post of the Central bank, Jaitley said, “Party president had specifically stated that party doesn’t agree with that comment.”
The BJP government had in October, 2014, appointed IIM-Ahmedabad allumnus Subramanian as CEA in the Finance Ministry. The ministry officials too defended the CEA's appointment, saying it knew of his stance on key issues like Intellectural Property Rights (IPR) before hand.
Government had taken a considered view when it appointed the former IMF economist as CEA, sources in the ministry said.
Earlier today, Subramanian Swamy targeted the CEA in a series of tweets. "Who said to US Cong on 13/3/13 the US should act against India to defend US Pharmaceuticals interests? Arvind Subramanian MoF !! Sack him!!!," the BJP MP tweeted.
Attacking the CEA, who is an NRI, he said, "Now PTs (Patriotic Tweeples) can understand why our core economic sectors could not perform last two years. Trojan horses galore in MoF/Fin Institutions."
"Was AS (Arvind Subramanian) deposing before US Cong Committee against India as a US citizen or Indian? Does any PT know?," he asked.
