arvind subramanian subramanian swamy rbi governor rajan cea modi govt arun jaitley
arvind subramanian subramanian swamy rbi governor rajan cea modi govt arun jaitleyReuters file

Arvind Subramanian, who is being billed as a front-runner in the race to replace RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, is under attack from BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who had earlier launched a series of attacks on the outgoing central bank chief.

Arvind Subramanian, the Chief Economic Advisor to the Narendra Modi government, is being accused of having worked against India's interests, a charge that first surfaced when he was appointed to the post about two years ago.

Subramanian Swamy, BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member, now wants AS to be "sacked".

In a series of tweets, Swamy targeted AS — a UPA government appointee — for allegedly working against the interests of Indian companies in a dispute before the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Swamy spoke about Arvind Subramanian in a series of tweets posted on Wednesday.

Arvind Subramanian is supposed to have deposed before the US government early 2014 to initiate action against Indian pharmaceutical companies in a conflict pertaining to intellectual property rights (IPR) violation.

"If India does not address the problems created by Section 3(d) of the patent legislation or by compulsory licensing for nonworking, the United States should consider initiating WTO disputes against India," he told the US Congress in a written testimony, reported The Times of India days after his appointment in October 2014.

Swamy also trained his guns on him, holding the former IMF economist responsible for the Congress hardening its stance on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.

Arvind Subramanian is said to the "most likely" candidate to succeed Raghuram Rajan, whose term ends in September this year. He is believed to ahead of the other four candidates the Modi government is considering, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

The other candidates in the fray include Urjit Patel, currently deputy governor at the RBI, and Arundhati Bhattarcharya, chairman of State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender.