New Delhi: Taking a jibe at the PM Modi led NDA government as a key RBI board meeting got underway. Congress scion  Rahul Gandhi dubbed the Centre’s candidates in the board as PM Narendra Modi’s “coterie of cronies”.

Asking for RBI governor Urjit Patel to protect the central bank’s autonomy, Rahul said, “I hope Mr Patel and his team have a spine.”

The major meeting of the board was under way and analysts said it is set in a feeling of mistrust over perceived government meddling on the central bank's functioning. Although the government has cleared that it has no intention of forcing the RBI's hand to do its order but the opposition has alleged that the NDA rule intends to plough into the valuable reserves of the central bank in polls season.

“Mr Modi and his coterie of cronies, continue to destroy every institution they can get their hands on. Today, through his puppets at the #RBIBoardMeet he will attempt to destroy the RBI. I hope Mr Patel and his team have a spine and show him his place,” Gandhi scion tweeted.

Taking a potshot at the government for seeking a major involvement in the RBI’s decision-making process, former FM Chidambaram, a day before the meeting, stated that the Centre is determined to ‘capture’ the central bank in order to get control over its reserves.

“Government is determined to ‘capture’ RBI in order to gain control over the reserves. The other so-called disagreements are only a smokescreen,” he wrote in his twitter handle.

“Nowhere in the world is the central bank a Board-managed Company. To suggest that private business persons will direct the Governor is a preposterous idea,” he further tweeted.

The RBI is also expected to agree to ease of lending norms for MSMEs, including strict rating criteria, to get better credit flow to this sector, as sources stated.