Union minister Piyush Goyal on Friday dubbed Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, who won the 2019 Nobel for Economics, as Left-leaning.
Patel made the remarks at a media briefing here.
"I congratulate Abhijit Banerjee for winning the Nobel prize. You all know that his thinking is totally Left-leaning," Goyal said.
"Banerjee supported 'Nyay' (poverty alleviation scheme of Congress) and people of India rejected his ideology," the BJP leader said.
Banerjee recently said the Indian economy is on a shaky ground, adding data currently available does not hold any assurance for the country's economic revival anytime soon.