Jaitley was told of Urjit Patel's decision to quit only minutes in advance

Monday was supposed to be a good day for the government. It announced the Cabinet’s decision to raise the Centre’s contribution to the National Pension Scheme for its employees, and was expecting the UK’s decision on extradition of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya. But things changed after 5 pm when Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel’s resignation hit the RBI website.

Highly-placed sources in the government say that none of the senior ministers had any inkling of Patel’s resignation. Even Finance Minister Arun Jaitley came to know about it minutes before Patel quit. 

The government will soon form a