‘Outlandish’: Sitharaman responds to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘stealing from RBI’ jibe

New Delhi, Aug 27: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday trained gun at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for alleging that the Centre was stealing from the Reserve Bank of India for masking the "self created economic disaster".

"He tried very hard in the past using chor, chor, chori. But the public gave him a sateek jawab (right answer). But he still insists on using the term. He should at least consult senior leaders in the Congress party who have been ministers in the past before speaking on such matters," said Sitharaman.

"He is an expert on the subject of stealing. Thus, I pay no great attention to his comments," she added.

Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at the government over the record cash transfer by the RBI, saying the prime minister and the finance minister are "clueless" about solving the "self created economic disaster" and accused them of "stealing money" from the Bank.

He also said that the move was akin to stealing a Band-Aid from the dispensary and sticking it on a gunshot wound.

Gandhi's reaction came after the RBI allowed the government to take Rs 1.76 lakh crore from its reserves to provide a fresh impetus to the economy.

"PM and FM are clueless about how to solve their self created economic disaster," he charged on Twitter.

"Stealing from RBI won't work - it's like stealing a Band-Aid from the dispensary and sticking it on a gunshot wound," he said, using the hashtag "#RBILooted".

In its meeting on Monday, the RBI's central board decided to transfer Rs 1,23,414 crore of surplus for the year 2018-'19 and Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions identified by a revised economic capital framework.

The RBI's decision to transfer Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the government came after the central bank accepted the recommendation of a panel led by Bimal Jalan, a former governor of the bank.