NEW DELHI: Reaching out to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor on Twitter, Rahul Gandhi asked Urijit Patel to protect the nation and stand up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Rs 36,00,00,00,00,000 - That’s how much the PM needs from the RBI to fix the mess his genius economic theories have created. Stand up to him Mr Patel. Protect the nation,” tweeted Rahul
Attacking PM Modi, Rahul said that the government is seeking Rs 3.6 lakh crore from the RBI to solve the economic crisis.
The standoff between the Centre and the top bank came to the fore after RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya warned that undermining central bank's independence could be "potentially catastrophic".
Sources privy to the development said the government has sent at least three letters on different issues under Section 7 of the RBI Act that gives it powers to issue any direction to the central bank governor on matters of public interest.
The standoff was in relation to RBI's handling of weak public sector banks, tight liquidity in the market and ways of resolving bad loans in the power sector.
Rahul has accused the BJP-led government of "destroying" institutions with its alleged strong-arm tactics, the differences between the Modi government and the RBI came out in public domain after a deputy governor raised concerns about the central bank's autonomy and warned that the governments that did not respect the central bank's independence would sooner or later incur the wrath of financial markets.
With agency inputs
