Want Elon Musk to be my presidential adviser: Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy
Washington (PTI): Vivek Ramaswamy, an Indian-American Republican presidential candidate, has indicated that he would like Elon Musk to be an adviser in his administration if he gets elected as the US president in 2024.
Ramaswamy, 38, made these remarks on Friday at a town hall in Iowa when he was asked about whom he would want as advisers for his potential presidency, NBC News reported.
Ramaswamy admires the mass layoffs Musk conducted after taking over Twitter last year.
The billionaire biotech entrepreneur said in response that he wanted people with a "blank fresh impression" who do not "come from within" the government.
"I've enjoyed getting to know better, Elon Musk recently, I expect him to be an interesting adviser of mine because he laid off 75 per cent of the employees at Twitter," Ramaswamy was quoted as saying in the report.
"And then the effectiveness actually went up," he noted.
A second-generation Indian-American, Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences in 2014 and led the largest biotech IPOs of 2015 and 2016, eventually culminating in successful clinical trials in multiple disease areas that led to FDA-approved products, according to his bio.
Musk, 52, is the billionaire owner of SpaceX, Tesla and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Ramaswamy has previously complimented Musk's management of the social media company, now called X, saying he would run the government the way that Musk runs the company.
"What he did at Twitter is a good example of what I want to do to the administrative state," Ramaswamy said in an interview on Fox News last week.
"Take out the 75 per cent of the dead weight cost, improve the actual experience of what it's supposed to do."
"He put an X through Twitter, I'll put a big X through the administrative state," he added. "So, that's where I'm at on common tactics with Elon."
The workforce of X has been cut down from just under 8,000 to about 1,500 since Musk bought Twitter for USD 44 billion last fall.
The billionaire who previously pledged his support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' White House bid and co-hosted DeSantis' chaotic campaign launch on Twitter Spaces said last week that he found Ramaswamy to be a "very promising candidate."
Ramaswamy is the youngest Republican presidential candidate ever. Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina is another Indian-American Republican Party candidate vying for the party's nomination.
Ramaswamy has been vocal about his desire to shut down the Department of Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the NBC report added.
He is one of the wealthiest Americans under the age of 40. He studied biology at Harvard before obtaining a law degree from Yale and was briefly a billionaire before a downturn in the stock market shrunk his wealth to just over USD 950 million, according to Forbes.
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Sitharaman refutes false claims that 'One Nation One Election' will be implemented in next polls
Chennai, Apr 5 (PTI): Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday dismissed the false propaganda surrounding the 'One Nation, One Election' concept, clarifying that it will not be implemented in the upcoming elections.
Speaking at an event near here, she noted that around Rs 1 lakh crore was spent during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and such a massive expenditure could be saved through simultaneous elections.
"If simultaneous elections are held for electing the members of Parliament and Assembly, about 1.5 per cent growth will be added to the country's GDP. In value terms, Rs 4.50 lakh crore will get added to the economy. This is a black and white example of One Nation One Election' concept", she said.
Sitharaman accused certain parties of "spreading a false campaign" on the 'One Nation One Election' initiative, blindly opposing it.
She clarified that simultaneous polls are planned to take place only after 2034 and the groundwork is being laid now for the then President to give his assent.
"This concept was widely discussed on several occasions. It was not something introduced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This' One Nation One Election' was in existence till the 1960s. Instead of blindly opposing it, if it has been supported considering its benefit, the 'One Nation One Election' concept will make the country move forward," the union minister remarked.
Sitharaman claimed that the late DMK Patriarch M Karunanidhi had supported the 'One Nation One Election' concept, but his son and the current Chief Minister (M K Stalin) is not following in his father's footsteps and instead opposing it.
Sitharaman reiterated that the 'One Nation One Election' concept was not someone's "pet" project, but has been planned considering the welfare of the country.
In her about 30 minute speech, the Union Minister clarified that simultaneous polls refers to conduct of Parliamentary and Assembly polls and not local body elections.
"There has been talk that simultaneous polls referring to elections will be conducted even at that Municipality level. It is not. It only pertains to the conduct of Parliamentary and Assembly polls together" she said.
She recalled that in the 1961-1970s three elections were conducted within 10 years in five states, including Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar and West Bengal.
Again, in the 1971 to 1980s, four elections were conducted in more than 14 States within 10 years.
Drumming up support for ONOE, Sitharaman said frequent conduct of Parliamentary and Assembly polls disrupts public welfare administration and affects developmental activities when the Model Code of Conduct is enforced.
"For example, even if an ambulance has to pass through a vital road, if the road has been laid but was not inaugurated due to implementation of model code of conduct, in view of elections, it gets affected," she said.
She clarified that she was not opposed to the implementation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) but at the same time, a project gets stalled and one has to wait until the MCC is lifted.
Another important aspect of holding simultaneous polls is that nearly Rs 12,000 crore would be saved to the exchequer, she said and added that such a huge sum can be used for various people welfare schemes instead of spending in elections.
"A Parliamentary Standing Committee comprising MPs from all the parties participated in a discussion on simultaneous polls and recommended it and again in 2018, Niti Ayog suggested conducting One Nation, One Election concept," she said.
In 2019, another all party meeting was convened on holding One Nation, One Election in which out of 19 political parties, 16 of them approved it while CPM, RSP and AIMIM from Hyderabad opposed it.
Sitharaman also referred to deployment of para-military forces as in the 2019 elections, several lakhs of personnel were involved in poll related activities instead of carrying out their regular work while 25 lakh election administrative officials participated in the conduct of the polls in 12 lakh booths.
With the implementation of One Nation, One Election, voter percentage would also increase in states, she added.
