PM not yet decided on successor to Mukherjee
25 Jun 2012
Prime minister Manmohan Singh is still "churning" in his mind as to who would take charge of finance ministry after Pranab Mukherjee relinquishes the key portfolio on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife that Singh, who spearheaded the economic reforms as finance minister in the 1990s may keep the portfolio with himself in the immediate future.
There are no clear indications as to who would get the crucial job when the country's economy is passing through a critical period of economic turbulence.
It is being speculated that Singh may run the finance ministry with the assistance of the two ministers of state -- Namo Narain Meena and S S Palanimanickam.
Kaushik Basu, the prime minister's own economic advisor, is in favour of Singh taking charge of the ministry after Mukherjee demits office, saying the prime minister was an extremely capable person.
He said in a TV interview that the prime minister was a highly trained economist and though it was a political decision as to who would take charge, the prime minister was an extremely capable person.
