Vijay Mallya as RBI Governor? Congress mocks govt

Vijay Mallya owes several banks thousands of crores of rupees which he had taken as loans for his businesses including the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Taking a dig at Modi government, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Sunday said it could appoint absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya as RBI Governor as he has "great experience" of banking system.

"Given  choices of  this govt - Gajendra Chauhan to Chetan Chauhan may appoint #VijayMallyasRBIGov Has great experience of banking system????", party spokesman Manish Tewari said on micro-blogging site Twitter.

Mallya owes several banks thousands of crores of rupees which he had taken as loans for his businesses including the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Government is under opposition attack which is accusing it of "hounding out" RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan who has declared that he would not opt for a second term.

Tewari had on Saturday ridiculed the government for appointing cricketer Chetan Chauhan as Chairman of the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology.

"It seems that the government wants to convert the National Institute of Fashion Technology into the national institute of cricket technology," Tewari had said.

Chetan Chauhan, he had said, "has a fair amount of experience in the Delhi and District Cricket Association which has faced multiple inquiries by Serious Fraud Investigation Office and is currently facing a CBI inquiry".

"So may be the government thought that all that experience would be useful in running the NIFT," he had added.

Photograph: Reuters