The Congress on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify who was the Finance Minister of India — Arun Jaitley or Piyush GoyalIJ Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari said, “PMO’s website says one thing, Finance Ministry website tells another story. The gentleman designated without portfolio on PMO website, is holding meetings via video-conference. The PM needs to tell country who is his Finance Minister.” The confusion cropped up when the Finance Minister’s name on two Government websites did not seem to match.
The PMO website refers to Jaitley as “Minister without Portfolio” and the Ministry of Finance is listed under Piyush Goyal along with Railways, coal and corporate affairs. The website was last updated on May 14, 2018.
On May 14, Goyal was given additional charge of Finance Ministry following the medical treatment of Arun Jaitley.
Jaitley underwent a successful kidney transplant at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) later that month.
During the period of indisposition of Jaitley, the portfolios of Minister for Finance and Minister for Corporate Affairs held by him, were temporarily assigned to Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios.
Whereas, on the other hand, the Finance Ministry website carries a picture of Arun Jaitley along with his designation.
Accusing the Government of “gross economic mismanagement over the past four wears”, Tewari said it was “because NDA and PM haven’t understood one simple equation, that social disharmony and economic development can’t go hand in hand, former is enemy of latter”