Don't have that kind of money to contest: Sitharaman opts not to fight LS polls

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that she would not contest the Lok Sabha election adding that Bharatiya Janata Party asked her to contest the polls from Tamil Nadu or Andhra PradeshParty did ask me after thinking over a week or days I just went back to say may be not Because my party president asked me would you want to contest somewhere in the southoption is somewhere in South Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh said Nirmala Sitharaman while speaking at the Times Now summitBut I dont have that kind of money to contest I also have a problem because whether it is Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu there is also going to be a question of various winability criteria that they use are you from this community or from that religion I said no I dont think I am going to be able to do it The party was graceful enough and I am very grateful to accept my argument and I am not contesting the Union Finance Minister saidWhen asked why she does not have enough funds to contest elections Sitharaman said My salary my earnings and my savings are mine and not the Consolidated Fund of IndiaNirmala Sitharaman has served as the Union Defence Minister In 2014 she was elected as Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh She has also served as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs and later the Minister for Commerce and Industry with Independent ChargeAs the Defence Minister Sitharaman is credited with expediting the decisionmaking process relating to procurement in defence sector She constituted a Defence Planning Committee to formulate an action plan to effectively overcome with various security challenges facing the nationSitharaman joined the Bhartiya Janta Party BJP in 2008 and has served as a national spokesperson for the party since 2010Sitharaman was born in Madurai Tamil Nadu on August 18 1959 She completed her graduation from Seethalakshmi Ramasamy College Tiruchirappalli and obtained her MA Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University New DelhiOn March 2 Bharatiya Janata Party released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi againOf 195 candidates 34 are Ministers from Centre and States while two are former Chief Ministers who are on the listHome Minister Amit Shah will contest from Gandhinagar while Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will contest from PorbandarUnion Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar will contest from Keralas ThiruvananthapuramUnion Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will contest from Dibrugarh Kiren Rijiju from Arunachal Pradesh Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs daughter Bansuri Swaraj has been fielded from New DelhiDefence Minister Rajnath Singh will contest from Lucknow Smriti Irani will again contest from Amethi Ajay Mishra TeniMOS Home will again contest from Khiri BJP leader Alok Sharma to contest from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh while former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to contest from Vidisha Jyotiraditya Scindia who joined BJP from Congress in 2020 to contest from Guna in Madhya PradeshThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever