God help Indian economy if Swamy becomes Finance Minister: Congress

Ludhiana (Punjab) [India], Sept. 18 (ANI): Taking a jibe at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy for saying that he would be a better Finance Minister than the incumbent Arun Jaitley, the Congress on Sunday said if the choice for handling India's fiscal and monetary policies is between them then God help the economy of the country. "If the choice for handling India's fiscal and monetary policies is between Subramanian Swamy and Arun Jaitley, then God help the economy of this country," Congress leader Manish Tewari told ANI. Swamy yesterday said as an economist, he would have made a better Finance Minister than Arun Jaitley, who is only a lawyer. Speaking at India Today's Mind Rocks Summit in New Delhi, the BJP leader said, "Jaitley is only a lawyer while I am an economist. It is self-evident who would make a better Finance Minister." Swamy made the remarks after his co-panellist and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi exhorted him to comment on how he would have not let inflation rates be as high as it is today. The Swamy-Jaitley tussle goes back a few months where the tension between them came to the fore in the controversy involving the appointment of Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das. After he had successfully ensured the ouster of former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Swamy had started gunning for Subramanian and Das, but Jaitley tweeted his defence of the two. (ANI)