‘Govt to take own course on second term to RBI guv’

Bengaluru, June 11: The government would take its “own course” on giving a second term to Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan and deliberations and discussions in public domain would not decide it, Union law minister Sadananda Gowda said on Saturday.

Gowda also said he is not aware of the reported formation of a selection committee by the government to shortlist candidates for the post of RBI governor. “I am not aware of why the committee has been formed, and how the selection (of RBI governor) will be done. I am really not aware,” he told PTI in Bengaluru.

Gowda’s response came when he was asked if setting up of the committee to shortlist candidates for RBI governor’s post meant that government would not give a second ter m to Rajan.

The Union government, as per some media reports, had formed a selection committee headed by Cabinet secretary PK Sinha for shortlisting candidates for RBI gover norship.

The issue of giving a second term to Rajan has generated much debate in public domain after BJP MP Subramanian Swamy launched an attack against him and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove him.

Gowda, however, said the government has its ways and means to decide on whether Rajan should be given the second term as the RBI governor or not. “Deliberations and discussions in public domain will not decide the issue. The government has its own ways and means of how it should process it—whether to continue, not to continue (Rajan). The government will take its own course,” he said.

RBI governor Raghuram Rajan