CHENNAI: Information Technology Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Tuesday clarified that on February 27, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter visited Madurai as per government protocol and that his meeting was not personal.
When reporters asked about the reasons for his meeting Modi, the minister explained: “Whenever the prime minister visits a place, the state government used to depute a minister to accompany the former to receive and assist him and later see him off. Similarly, on instructions from the chief minister’s office, I called on the PM on February 27. So, that meeting was official and there was no politics involved in that.”
Responding to a question on the State Bank of India seeking time to submit the information about electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India till June 30, Thiaga Rajan said: “I worked in the banking sector for 20 years. The RBI would issue licence for running a bank only if the bank concerned has certain basic technology. The bank should have the basic data. SBI is a big entity and it should be able to provide the information about the electoral bonds within two minutes.”