Swamy actually targeting Arun Jaitley, Raghuram Rajan just an excuse: Congress

New Delhi: Asserting that the all-out attack by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan was just a ruse as the real target was Arun Jaitley, the Congress on Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unleashed a ploy to sideline the Finance Minister. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi never had any faith either in democratic values or in constitutional statutory institutions. The BJP and the RSS always want to weaken the constitutional and statutory institutions and that is why Subramanian Swamy was brought in as part of a conspiracy," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. Accusing the Prime Minister of having no faith in his Cabinet colleagues, he added that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other Union Ministers were sidelined at first and now it was the Finance Minister's turn. "As they say in Hindi, Raghuram Rajan to bahana hai, Arun Jaitley nishaana hai. We deprecate and condemn this systematic attack on constitutional institutions. Rajan, who is a great economist and has done commendable work for this country, is taking strict action against bank defaulters," Surjewala added. He also claimed that the Prime Minister had sanctioned the attack on Rajan, as he was scared that his 'crony' friends are going to face severe action on default of payments to banks by the RBI. "Modi ji stop attacking constitutional institutions, stop using and misusing individuals like Swamy to decimate the authority and authenticity on institutions because the whole country is watching you," he said. Reiterating that Rajan must be removed from his post at the earliest, Swamy had earlier this week written to the Prime Minister, asserting that he was shocked by the wilful and deliberate attempt by the RBI Governor to 'wreck' the Indian economy. "When the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) started to decline due to induced recession in the small and medium industry, he shifted the target from WPI to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which has not however declined because of the retail prices. On the contrary, it has risen. Had Dr. Rajan stuck to WPI interest rates would have been much lower today, and given huge relief to small and medium industries, instead, they are squeezed further and consequent increasing unemployment," Swamy said. Appealing to the Prime Minister to take action, Swamy added that he could not stand to watch seeing someone appointed by the UPA regime who is 'against Indian economic interests' to be kept in this post when there are so many other nationalist minded experts available. Speaking to ANI later on his letter, the BJP leader held Rajan and not the NDA Government responsible for India's failing economy. "Our industrial growth is running in minus. What he is doing right now is killing a sick patient instead of healing him. No matter how many times I wrote to him and warned him, he has not budged from his ways. He is a UPA appointee. Why should we keep him? Must terminate him immediately," Swamy said.