Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday hit out at Congres leader Rahul Gandhi over his 'stealing from RBI' remarks and said there is no point of using the 'chor or chori' word again as the public have already given him a befitting reply.
"Whenever Rahul Gandhi raises things like 'chor,chori,' one thing comes to my mind. He tried his best 'chor, chor, chori' but the public has given him a befitting reply. What is the point of using the same words again?" Sitharaman said in a press conference apparently referring to the remarks used by him during elections on the Rafale fighter jet deal.
The Finance Minister said that Rahul should speak to an expert to know more about the issue before making a statement.
"The Reserve Bank of India had set up a committee on the transfer of surplus and the decision was made by them and government has nothing to do with it," she said.
This comes after Gandhi scion slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over their 'self-created economic disaster'. Rahul said that 'stealing' from RBI will not work.
"PM and FM are clueless about how to solve their self created economic disaster. Stealing from RBI won't work - it's like stealing a Band-Aid from the dispensary and sticking it on a gunshot wound. RBI Looted," Rahul tweeted this morning, a day after the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the transfer of Rs 1,76,051 crore to Centre.
On Monday, a press note from the RBI had said that it has decided "to transfer a sum of Rs 1,76,051 crore to the Government of India comprising Rs 1,23,414 crore of surplus for the year 2018-19 and Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF) adopted at the meeting of the Central Board."
The Committee's recommendations were based on the consideration of the role of central banks' financial resilience, cross-country practices, statutory provisions and the impact of the RBI's public policy mandate and operating environment on its balance sheet and the risks involved," the note had said.
( With inputs from ANI )