Furquan Moharkan
Bengaluru, dhns: Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has conveyed that he is not keen on a Rajya Sabha seat offered by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
"I have no plans to leave my full-time academic job at the University of Chicago," Rajan told DH. Rajan also said he will continue to engage in educational activities in India.
The AAP had approached Rajan, offering him a seat in the Upper House of Parliament.
Sources within the AAP, who did not wish to be identified, said the party will not field its leaders for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi that will fall vacant in January.
Rajan is currently Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
Rajan's name was also shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in economics recently. He was at the helm of India's apex bank between 2013 and 2016, where his initial task was to control inflation and slide in the rupee caused because of Taper Tantrum.
Rajan had not applied for extension of his tenure at RBI when his tenure got over. Soon after, he returned to academics. In the recent past, he had aired reservations about demonetisation.
AAP sources suggest that party's president Arvind Kejriwal is keen only on sending professional candidates to Rajya Sabha. The move to not field any party leader to the Rajya Sabha is also seen as an attempt to put an end to intra-party rivalries. Kumar Vishwas, who has aired his discontent against the leadership, is known to be one of the strong contenders.
Delhi has three representatives in the Rajya Sabha. As of now, the city-state is being represented by Janardan Dwivedi, Parvez Hashmi and Karan Singh, whose terms end in January.
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