Nirmala Sitharaman said Rahul Gandhi has become "expert" in calling others thieves

Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday hit out at critics of the Reserve Bank's unprecedented decision to transfer a record Rs. 1.76 lakh crore from its surplus and reserves. Questioning the recommendation of the committee concerned was "outlandish", she said, since it was appointed by the central bank. The big takedown was directed at the Congress's Rahul Gandhi, who this morning had accused the government of stealing.

"When Rahul Gandhi says chor (thief) and chori (theft)... he had really tried with chor and the public gave him good answer. The Congress should have spoken to the Reserve Bank of India before commenting," she said.

The former Congress chief, she added, has become "expert" in calling others thieves.

Under the hashtag #RBIlooted, Rahul Gandhi 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".

Rahul Gandhi's "Chowkidar chor hai" campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha elections was said to be one of the key reason why the Congress was decimated. The Congress had tied the slogan to their allegations on the French deal for the Rafale aircraft, the allegations of corruption against Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen to have irked the people.

Recently, senior Congress leaders like Jairam Ramesh, Abhishek Singhvi and Shashi Tharoor has advised against indiscriminately tarring PM Modi.

"Always said demonising Modi wrong. No only is he PM of nation, a one way opposition actually helps him. Acts are always good, bad & indifferent - they must be judged issue wise and nt person wise. Certainly, Ujjawala scheme is only one amongst other good deeds (sic)," Mr Singhvi had tweeted.

"As you know, I have argued for six years now that Narendra Modi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, which would add credibility to our criticisms whenever he errs. I welcome others in opposition coming around to a view for which I was excoriated at the time," Mr Tharoor had said.

Mr Tharoor's comments, however, upset the Kerala unit of the Congress, which has decided to seek an explanation from him.