FM Nirmala Sitharaman said she declined the BJP's offer to contest elections pleading that she did not have the 'kind of fund' required to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

BJP President JP Nadda gave her the option to contest either from Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.

"After thinking for a week or ten days, I went back to say, 'Maybe not'. I do not have that kind of money to contest," she said.

She said that Consolidated Fund of India does not belong to her. She said, "My salary, my earnings, and my savings are mine and not the Consolidated Fund of India".