Rahul Gandhi should be the last person to talk about stealing: BJP

Soon after Rahul Gandhi criticised the Centre over "stealing" money from RBI, BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao slammed the Congress leader and said that he is the last person, who should talk about stealing.

"If there is anyone who is clueless about anything it is Rahul Gandhi. He is simply clueless about why his party ended up in a disaster despite lies having been circulated all around... His 'gyan' (knowledge) about physics, economics has really landed his party in a great mess. The country's economy is very safe in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. We are today one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The government has announced a package for sectors which have experienced some difficulty in the recent months," Rao told ANI here.

 

"Rahul Gandhi should be the last person to talk about stealing because he and his party are experts in stealing public money. He is also facing cases for taking over the assets of the National Herald company. So, if there is any public heist that any political party has done, it is the Congress party. One of their senior leaders is already in custody facing serious charges... So, the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi would do well to keep quiet rather than invite all the criticism which can only be laid at their doorstep for indulging in crores of scams," he added.

After the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the transfer of Rs 1,76,051 crore to Centre, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday tweeted, " "PM & 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 & sticking it on a gunshot wound. #RBILooted."

RBI's decision is in line with the recommendations of the Bimal Jalan Committee.

On Monday, a press note from the RBI 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 today."

It may be recalled that the RBI in consultation with the Government of India had constituted an Expert Committee to Review the Extant Economic Capital Framework of the Reserve Bank of India under the chairmanship of Dr Bimal Jalan.

"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 said.

The note further said, "The Committee's recommendations were guided by the fact that the RBI forms the primary bulwark for monetary, financial and external stability... Hence, the resilience of the RBI needs to be commensurate with its public policy objectives and must be maintained above the level of peer central banks as would be expected of a central bank of one of the fastest-growing large economies of the world.