Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that she rejected the BJP’s proposal to contest elections, stating that she does not have the necessary “kind of money” to contest Lok Sabha elections.

The Minister said that the BJP President (J.P. Nadda) gave her the option to contest elections from Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.

“After thinking for a week or ten days, I went back just to say… perhaps not. I don’t have the kind of money to contest elections. I also have a problem, whether it’s Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. It’s also a question of various other winnable criteria being used by them… Are you from this community or that religion? Are you from this? I said no, I don’t think I am capable of doing this,” she said.

Sitharaman was speaking at the Times Now Summit 2024.

He said, “I am very grateful that they accepted my argument… that’s why I am not contesting the election.”

When asked why the Finance Minister of the country doesn’t have enough funds to contest Lok Sabha elections, he said that India’s reserve funds don’t belong to him.

She said, “My salary, my earnings, my savings are mine and not the Consolidated Fund of India”.

The ruling BJP has fielded several sitting Rajya Sabha members in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections starting from April 19th.

These include Piyush Goyal, Bhupender Yadav, Rajiv Chandrasekhar, Mansukh Mandaviya, and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Sitharaman is a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka.

The minister said that she will be campaigning for different candidates.

“I will also participate in various media programs. Like yesterday, I will also go for campaigning with the candidates for Rajiv Chandrasekhar and yes, I will remain in the campaign,” she said further.