I’d be better Finance Minister than Arun Jaitley: Subramanian Swamy

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy believes he will be a better finance minister than the incumbent Arun Jaitley.

“I am an economist. He is a lawyer. How can he be better than me ”

Mr Swamy, whose antagonism for Mr Jaitley is open, said at an event here on Saturday.

Mr Swamy was replying to a query on whether he will make a better finance minister than Mr Jaitley at the India Today Mind Rocks Summit.

Mr Swamy’s relentless criticism of former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan was also seen as indirect attack on Mr Jaitley.

The reply came following AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi’s comment that inflation would have been in check had Mr Swamy been the finance minister.

“There has been a fight between southern Brahmins and northern Brahmins for long,” the BJP leader later quipped.

On being asked by the moderator whether the BJP had imposed a gag on him, Mr Swamy again took a jibe at Mr Jaitley, saying, “There is no gag order on me. Your problem is that you talk to Jaitley a lot.”

Asked whether he would fare better than Rajnath Singh as home minister, Mr Swamy said, “Rajnath is my friend. He is the best home minister after Sardar Patel.”