NEW DELHI: Maintaining that the Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) is the most accountable in a democracy, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that the Prime Minister must have the power to overrule others as the buck stops with him. Intervening in a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said, “The Prime Minister should have the last word. He should have the right to overrule others. You cannot create structures outside government with obsolete ideas, and make them more powerful than the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers.” In an apparent reference to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Jaitley said, “If the PM sees corruption, he has to step in. He has to be tough and at times ruthless. The buck stops at the PM’s door. This is where he has to act.”
Jaitley said that though Manmohan was a great scholar, he did not have the last word. “The PM has to be tough and ruthless with corruption and then only country can move forward,” he said. According to Jaitley, the huge mandate secured by the BJP had increased its burden of expectation. “People were feeling helpless and were angry. We came to power due to anti-incumbency and also due to the hope factor and faith that they had in our leader Narendra Modi. The President’s address reflected the roadmap for the future of India,” he said.
Maintaining that the UPA had left the country with a low growth rate and high inflation, he said, “Our major challenge is that we have to revive the economy.”