"I am not candidate" for IMF chief post: Montek

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday distanced himself from speculations that he was in the race for the post of IMF chief, saying he is not a candidate.

"It is completely false. I don't know what is the basis of this. I am not a candidate. This is some speculative thing in the New York Times," Ahluwalia said.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function to mark 5 years of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

Ahluwalia's remarks came a day after IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said next heads of the Fund and World Bank should be from outside US and Europe.

"Let us be candid. I think the so-called agreement between the US and Europe (rpt)Europe whereby the IMF head was European and World Bank President was an American is over", Kahn said.

"So I think it would be just fair that the next leaders of the two institutions will come from somewhere else in the world," Strauss-Kahn had told media persons yesterday in reply to a query on the issue.

Strauss-Kahn, who served as the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry of France, however, said this did not mean that Europeans would be forbidden to lead the IMF for ever.

The New York Times had earlier reported that Ahluwalia is among the probables to succeed Kahn in the IMF. The report said the clout and role of the international lender has increased substantially in the emerging markets.

"Whatever he (Kahn) decides, his successor is likely to be someone from the developing world. Frequently mentioned names include Mohamed A El-Erian, the American-born son of an Egyptian diplomat and an economist who leads the giant bond investor Pimco; Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a senior Indian planning official; and Arminio Fraga and Guillermo Ortiz, former heads of the central banks of Brazil and Mexico respectively," the daily had said.