I do not have the kind of money to contest Lok Sabha elections: Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi, Mar 27: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said she declined the offer of the BJP to contest elections pleading that she did not have the 'kind of funds' required for fighting the Lok Sabha polls.
The minister said that the BJP President (J P Nadda) gave her the option to contest either from Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.
"After thinking over a week or ten days, I just went back to say... maybe not. I do not have that kind of money to contest. I also have a problem whether it is Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. It's also going to be a question of various other winnability criteria that they use...Are you from this community or are you from that religion? Are you from this? I said no, I do not think I am going to able to do it," she said.
Sitharaman was speaking at the TIMES NOW Summit 2024 here.
"I am very grateful that they accepted my argument...So I am not contesting," she added.
When asked why even the finance minister of the country does not have enough funds to fight Lok Sabha elections, she said that the Consolidated Fund of India does not belong to her.
She said, "My salary, my earnings, my savings are mine and not the Consolidated Fund of India".
The ruling BJP has fielded several existing Rajya Sabha members in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, beginning April 19.
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 be attending a lot of media events. And going with the candidates like tomorrow I will be going for Rajiv Chandrasekhar campaign and so yes, I'll be on the campaign trail," she added.
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AAP claims party's LS poll campaign song banned by EC
New Delhi (PTI): The AAP on Sunday claimed the Election Commission (EC) has imposed a ban on the party's Lok Sabha campaign song, 'Jail ke jawab mein hum vote denge', stating that it shows the ruling BJP and central investigation agencies in a bad light.
There was no immediate response from the poll panel to the AAP's claim.
Addressing a press conference, senior AAP leader Atishi said, "It is probably the first time that the EC has imposed a ban on a party's campaign song."
According to the EC, she said, the song shows the ruling party and investigation agencies in a bad light.
"The song does not mention the BJP and does not violate the Model Code of Conduct. It includes factual videos and incidents," she added.
Atishi, who is also a Delhi government minister, accused the EC of not acting on poll code violations committed by the BJP.
"If the BJP does dictatorship, it is right. But if someone talks about it, that is wrong. This shows that democracy is in danger. I want to urge the EC to act on the (poll code) violations committed by the BJP and not stop campaigns of opposition parties," she said.
The AAP's over two-minute campaign song has been penned and sung by AAP MLA Dilip Pandey. The song was released at the party headquarters here on Thursday.
#WATCH | Delhi Minister Atishi says, "... Another political weapon of the BJP, the Election Commission has put a ban on AAP's campaign song. This has happened for the first time in the history of India, that the Election Commission has put a ban on the election song of a… pic.twitter.com/9BgLQYbUeC
— ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2024
