Rajan claims he was open to second term

Rajan, who had in June decided against seeking a second term after 3-year tenure which ends next month, said the process of dialogue with the government did not reach a stage where he could have agreed to stay on. He said, however, that he was never worried about reappointment or a future career in government and did the best in the interest of the country and he was the ‘best team player’. Rajan, who plans to return to academia after his term ends on September 4, said his stays at university made him ‘pretty thick skinned’, but the attacks then were not abominable. 

“Some of these (recent) attacks were abominable, that is imputing sort of motives, alleging things completely without any basis,” he said, adding that he put them aside and did not pay any attention to them. Towards the end of his three-year tenure, Rajan faced personal attacks from BJP MP Subramanian Swamy who had alleged that the former IMF Chief Economist was ‘mentally not fully Indian’ and sent confidential and sensitive financial information abroad.