Hope not for very long: Arun Jaitley on defence minister portfolio

Defence Minister Arun Jaitleyhinted that he will not retain the portfolio for long. He also added that it was not up to him to decide.

Asked about his tenure as the defence minister, Arun Jaitley, "At least I hope not for very long. That's anyway not me to decide."

Arun Jaitley, who also holds the finance portfolio,was handed the charge defence ministry in March after the resignation of then defence minister Manohar Parrikar before he took charge as the chief minister of Goa.

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He is likely to drop one of the ministries by next month, a media report quoted a source as saying.

A major cabinet reshuffle is also on the cardsbefore Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves on Sunday for a BRICS summit in China, media reports said.

A change of guard in the Railways Ministry seems imminent after a recent spate of accidents.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu met PM Modi and offered to quit but was "asked to wait".

Jaitley yesterday spoke about how demonetisation had hit the funds of terrorists and separatists in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh.

The finance minister had said the ban of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes had resulted in a cash crunch and in a shortage of stone-pelters for separatists.

"For the first time, the RBI has scrutinised each note, which has helped them differentiate between fake notes from the authentic ones. The cash squeeze is evident, since these terrorist elements are finding it difficult to mobilise support for them. Without enough cash notes, it is difficult to gather stone throwers as before," Arun Jaitley said.

The finance minister said his next step would be to put an end to black money used in elections, adding that the final stage of proposals was being deliberated.