Accusing the NDA government of interfering in the functioning of the Reserve Bank of India(RBI), CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday alleged it was pushing the central bank to lend more to rich corporates.

Alleging that the government has already written off over Rs 3 lakh crore to rich defaulters and was now "bullying" the RBI for more, Yechury said the move is against public interest and was only helping rich and "cronies".

"Pushing the RBI to enable more lending to rich corporates: the Modi govt has already written off over Rs 3 lakh crore to rich defaulters - now, bullies RBI for more. This is against 'public interest' - it is only about helping rich friends & cronies who are not returning public money," he tweeted.

The finance ministry and the RBI are at loggerheads over invocation of the Section 7 of the RBI Act.

The section empowers the government to issue directions to the central bank, after consultation with the RBI governor, on issues that it considers serious and of public interest.

This section has never been invoked before.