Congress slams BJP for denying Raghuram Rajan second term, says Urjit Patel has same pedigree

New Delhi: Taking a swipe at the Centre over Urjit Patel’s appointment as Reserve Bnak of India (RBI) Governor, the Congress on Saturday said he has the same “pedigree” as his predecessor Raghuram Rajan whom the government did not give a second term. [caption id=“attachment_2968016” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Deputy governor of RBI Urjit Patel. Patel will take over as the central bank’s new head, ending two months’ speculation about Raghuram Rajan’s successor. PTI[/caption] “If Establishment hounds abhorred Raghuram Rajan’s foreign credentials, Urjit Patel has identical pedigree. Different strokes for different folks,” Congress leader Manish Tewari said in a tweet. The Congress leader was apparently referring to Patel being born in Kenya and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy’s repeated digs at Rajan for retaining his US green card despite becoming RBI Governor. Earlier on Saturday, after months of speculation, Patel, a Deputy Governor at the RBI, was named as the next chief of India’s central bank to succeed Rajan, whose tenure was marked with tough measures to control inflation and headline-making statements. Rajan, who earned a reputation of being an outspoken critic of the government on various economic and even non-economic issues, was under attack in recent months from some quarters including Swamy for what they termed as his hawkish stance on inflation control at the cost of growth.