Raghuram Rajan Looking For A Political Career? ‘Should Announce It Soon’, Says Union Minister Piyush Goyal 

Union Minister for Railways, Piyush Goyal, has hinted that the former RBI (Reserve Bank of India) Governor, Raghuram Rajan, harboured political ambitions and said that Mr Rajan should be more forthcoming about it.

The minister said this in response to the statement made by Raghuram Rajan on the resignation of his successor Urjit Patel as RBI’s governor earlier this week. He had said, “We need to ask what was the circumstances that led to Dr Patel resigning and the government must take extreme care in how it proceeds further in its relationship with the RBI. I think this is something all Indians should be concerned about because strength of our institution is really important both for growth and sustainable growth in equity and the economy.”

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The Union Minister, in an interview with the TV news channel, Times Now, said that the former RBI governor (Mr Rajan), was looking at a ‘political career,’ after his stint at India’s central bank. Mr Goyal also noted that the stock markets, which usually reveal a marked downward trend following such sudden exits, have performed remarkably well in the aftermath of the resignation. He added that the markets went up by ‘around 1100 points over three days,’

Echoing the minister's words, many media reports have also expressed surprise at the lack of negative reaction from the market. The Minister also pointed that this positive response of the markets was all the more astonishing since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is seen as pro-business, lost in the recent assembly elections in the three major states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.