Aam Aadmi Party has reportedly offered a Rajya Sabha seat from Delhi to the former Reserve Bank of India governor, Raghuram Rajan. Sources in the party said that Rajan was already considering the offer.
Delhi has three Rajya Sabha seats and given the AAP’s historic victory in 2015, the party is set to send three members to the Rajya Sabha. The choice of Rajan assumes significance in light of his spectacular fall out on economic policies with the Centre’s Narendra Modi government.
Modi had refused to offer him a second term. Should Rajan accept the offer, his presence in the Upper House will be a cause of embarrassment for the government. Rajan, who had made the list of probables for this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics, will also be able to counter the government’s economic policies more effectively in the parliament.
There are several stakeholders for the three Rajya Sabha seats on offer from AAP. Senior leader Kumar Vishwas had recently expressed his desire to be sent to the Upper House. However, sources close to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he was keen to send professionals and outsiders to Rajya Sabha.