RBI Top Job
Bajaj, Panda, Garg favourites as Das term ends
The term of Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das is set to end on December 10, but there is no indication from the government on whether he will be granted an extension. Sources said that if Das is not given an extension, he will most likely be succeeded by a bureaucrat trusted by the government. The names of several candidates are circulating in Delhi’s power corridors as likely successors to Das.
These include Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General Anand Mohan Bajaj, a 1990-batch officer of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service; Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India Debashish Panda, a 1987-batch retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre; and Secretary in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Saurabh Garg, a 1991-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre. Bajaj is a chartered accountant with 30 years of experience in finance, capital markets, and economic affairs.
Panda retired as Secretary of the Department of Financial Services in the Union Ministry of Finance. Prior to that, he served as Additional Secretary and Special Secretary in the same department. Garg has an outstanding academic record, having earned a PhD from Johns Hopkins University, an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, an MA from the London School of Economics, and an undergraduate degree from IIT Delhi.
He is also considered one of the key architects of the Union government’s highly successful Direct Benefit Transfer scheme. Garg has served in the Union government’s Departments of Expenditure and Economic Affairs as well as the World Bank. While the names of these three officers are widely discussed in bureaucratic and financial circles, sources did not entirely rule out the possibility of the government granting an extension to Das.
New BJP President
Khattar, Dharmendra pull ahead; Fadnavis out
The race for the new BJP president is narrowing with each passing month. Devendra Fadnavis, a strong contender for the post, has taken over as the chief minister of a coalition government. Sources indicate that the party leadership would not like to pull him out of Maharashtra as he is the best man to manage the pulls and pressures of the coalition and ensure its longevity. Vinod Tawde, another frontrunner known for his organisational skills and favored by the party leadership, became embroiled in a controversy following allegations that he was carrying cash intended for use in the election.
A video showing Tawde sitting in a hotel while workers of opposition candidates showing currency notes allegedly recovered from his bag has revived troubling memories of the late BJP president Bangaru Laxman accepting cash from a purported arms dealer. Insiders reveal that the party is keen to avoid providing the opposition with ammunition to launch an attack. Sunil Bansal, the third favourite for the post, has also been facing headwinds from his parent organisation, the RSS, which reportedly favors Union ministers Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Rajnath Singh.
However, sources indicate that the Prime Minister is keen to retain both leaders in the ministry. The BJP’s organisational elections are underway, with the process of electing Mandal-level executives and presidents currently in progress. Once this phase is completed, elections for the Zila-level executives are expected to begin in the second half of this month. This will be followed by state executive elections in the first half of January and the election of the national president later that month. According to sources, in the emerging scenario, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Manohar Lal Khattar are seen as frontrunners for the BJP’s top leadership role.