'We are not a suitcase-carrying government', says Nirmala Sitharaman

Chennai: In a veiled attack on Congress, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman connected her idea of carrying Budget documents wrapped in a red cloth instead of a briefcase with alleged corruption in the previous UPA government at the Centre.

Speaking at the International Business Conference of Nagarathar, she said, "For Budget 2019, I did not carry a suitcase. We are not a suitcase-carrying government. A suitcase also denotes something else: suitcase-taking, suitcase-giving. Modiji`s government is not a suitcase government."

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For the presentation Union Budget for 2019-20, Sitharaman decided to go with the swadeshi `bahi khata` in line with Indian traditions, instead of the Budget briefcase which she said belonged to the British colonial era.

She flashed the `bahi khata,` which is a kind of a ledger, wrapped in a red cloth containing her Budget speech and other related papers outside the North Block. The picture went viral on social media.