Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that the government had full confidence in Chief Economic Adivser Arvind Subramanian hours after BJP MP Subramanian Swamy called for the CEA’s sacking.
"Well, the government has full confidence in CEA Arvind Subramanian. His advice to government from time to time has been of great value," the finance minister said.
Swamy this morning demanded, in a series of tweets, sacking of Subramanian for his alleged "anti-India stance" on economic issues while serving in the IMF.
Adding that the government deemed his advice to be of great value, "In fact, also the presentation on textiles made just now (at the media briefing on Cabinet decisions) on textiles and garments sector was prepared in active consultation with him," Jaitley said backing Subramanian, who has become the high-profile target of Swamy after RBI chief Raghuram Rajan.
Jaitley also said that the government and the BJP did not shy away from defending RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan in the face of Swamy's attacks.
"From the point of view of discipline of Indian politicians, to what extent should we attack those...discipline and constraints of office prevent them from responding. And this has happened more than once," he said.
Referring to the party's statement distancing itself from Swamy's latest attack, the minister said even the BJP does not concur with Swamy's views. "They have said they do not share Swamy's view," he added.
The Congress had suggested multiple times in the past that Swamy’s actual target is not Rajan or the CEA but the Finance Minister.
It is well known in political circles that Jaitley and Swamy, both currently Rajya Sabha members are not the best of friends within the BJP.
Although, Swamy did not mention Jaitley this time around, in November 2015 he had targeted Jaitley for not doing enough to bring black money back to the country and check inflation.
The NDA government had in October, 2014 appointed IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus Subramanian as CEA in the Finance Ministry.
Jaitley made the comments when reporters at the scheduled media briefing to announce Cabinet decisions asked about Swamy's remarks against CEA.
(With inputs from PTI)