Who will be New Finance
Minister ? A guessing game is
Even as Economic Advisor to
the Prime Minister C Rangarajan ducked the question whether he will don the
mantle of as the next finance minister, the Capital was agog with the
speculation that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may keep the portfolio with
himself for sometime. Though PM also avoided a direct reply to the question
when asked in this regard, other contenders such Union Home Minister P
Chidambaram, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Commerce Minister Anand
Sharma and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia remained
incommunicado.
When Rangarajan was
asked by a TV channel whether he would don the mantle of the new FM, he made
that such questions should not be put to him. But this was neither here nor
there.
Since no
swearing-in-ceremony has been slated at the rashtrapati bhawan till the time of
going to the press, it is clear that finance ministry will be given to Minister
who is already a part of the Union Cabinet including the PM himself.
Congress President
Sonia Gandhi, too, is not keen on bringing in an outsider as the next finance
minister and wants a political person be given the charge. Government sources
say a team of senior bureaucrats are likely to assist Manmohan Singh initially.
Home Minister P
Chidambaram, who has handled the finance portfolio, is very keen to return to
the finance ministry as he was transferred against his wishes during 2008
mumbai terror attack. Jairam Ramesh is lobbying hard for the post too flouting
his MIT credentials. But he has no takers. Montek Singh Ahluwalia may not be
able to make it though he is a hit favourite of the Prime Minister. It is yet
to be seen if Sonia Gandhi agrees. But even his induction will require a
special swearing-in-ceremony which doesn’t look possible.
Since Pranab
Mukherjee is set to resign tomorrow, he directed various wings associated with his ministry to take a series of steps on his last day
as Finance Minister. This saw the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiking the limit
of external commercial debt by $10 billion. Moreover, the regulator also
increased the limit of overseas investment in government bonds by $5 billion to
$20 billion.
But nothing could
cheer the markets as sensex was down though rupee gained a bit. What can happen on the last day when the man couldn't do in four years as FM, wondered an economic expert.
