(This story originally appeared in on Aug 12, 2019)

Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said he had once recommended to the finance minister that the RBI governor “was no good and should be sacked outright”. Narrating the incident at two different functions in Nagpur, Gadkari sought to make the point how rigidity by regulators had hampered business growth in the country.In NDA’s first innings, Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal were the finance ministers. At that time, Raghuram Rajan and Urijit Patel were RBI governors. Rajan did not get a second term while Patel quit without completing his tenure. Gadkari did not name anyone and referred to only “FM” and “RBI governor” in his speech.Gadkari said, “I tried hard to convince the governor (about having a flexible approach) but he was adamant. Later, the FM told me that he (the governor) threatens to quit but does not do so. So, I told the FM, ‘if he doesn’t quit better throw him out, he is no good’.”At one of the functions, Gadkari said that this sector (banking) can expect a positive approach from current RBI governor Shaktikanta Das.