Press Trust of India
New Delhi, June 23: BJP MP Subramanian Swamy Thursday appeared to target Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, which prompted Finance minister Arun Jaitley to call it an “unfair and false” attack on a disciplined civil servant. “I think there a property deal case pending against him (Das) for assisting PC swallow Mahabalipuram prime locations,” Swamy tweeted Thursday. It was in reply to his twitter handle followers who had sought blacklisting of RBI Deputy Governor Urjit Patel and Das from RBI Governorship as well as sending Das back to his parent cadre Tamil Nadu.
Shortly thereafter, Jaitley, who is in China, tweeted, “An unfair and false attack on a disciplined civil servant in the Finance ministry.” Jaitley had Wednesday led a strong defence of Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian after Swamy had attacked him, and rued how far politicians can go to attack those in government whose discipline and constraints of office restrain them from responding. The Minister is in China to attend the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Board of governor’s meeting.
Meanwhile, unfazed by the government and BJP distancing themselves from his remarks, Subramanian Swamy Thursday continued his attack on Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subrmananian while dismissing Finance minister Arun Jaitley’s counsel for restraint. “Let him say what he wants….I have nothing to do with what Jaitley says. I can talk to the party president or the Prime Minister,” he told reporters who asked him about Jaitley’s disapproval of his attack on a technocrat in the government who cannot respond. Earlier in the morning, Swamy kept up his criticism of Subrmanian saying he will “suspend” the demand for his sacking if the government considers him patriotic despite his attempts in the past of trying to twist India’s arm. “If an Indian?, held patriotic, can advise a foreign nation where he works, to twist India’s arm, is to be forgiven, then I suspend my demand. “AS (Arvind Subramanian) to US Cong: “US initiatives by discriminating against India companies and exporters will exert pressure on India to open up” AS 13/3/13!,” Swamy tweeted Thursday.
Swamy Wednesday caused a flutter when he sought Subramanian’s sacking for allegedly taking anti-India stance when he was an IMF economist in Washington prior to joining the Finance ministry. Jaitley had debunked Swamy’s call for sacking Subramanian saying “Government has full confidence in CEA. His advice to government from time to time has been of great value”. Subramanian was appointed CEA by the BJP government in October 2014 after his predecessor Raghuram Rajan moved to the RBI as Governor in September 2013 Swamy further tweeted Thursday “If BJP Union govt says that we know all about AS but still he is an asset, then I will suspend my demand and wait for events to prove truth. “Within a year after getting plum job in the Indian government especially since out of 1.25 billion we could not find any equal or better.”
