Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Congress party on Friday for accusing the Centre of corruption. During the general debate on Budget 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha, the union minister stated people who accuse the BJP of corruption should first cleanse their face with Dettol.
“Arre Corruption ke upar aap… Dettol se muh saaf kardo bhaiya. Congresswale. Corruption ke upar aap, Corruption ke upar aap aap baat kar rahe ho. (You will speak on corruption, clean your mouth with Dettol first. You will speak on corruption, what are you saying?), expressing sheer disbelief, the Union Minister said that a party with a history of corruption should not counsel others.
Sitharaman’s remark came after she noted that the Congress party in Himachal Pradesh raised the Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel after assuming office last year.
“You increased VAT on diesel in Himachal Pradesh. This is the culture of Congress. They will level allegations, walk out from the house but will not listen,” she said.
Further taking a dig at the Congress government in Rajasthan, the finance minister said, “Rajasthan mein gadbad hai bhaiya, pichle saal ka budget iss saal padh rahe hain. Mistakes can happen to anyone, but I pray to God that such a situation should not arise in front of anyone that someone has to read the previous year’s budget.”
Notably, the Union Finance Minister’s aforementioned remark came in the wake of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s major gaffe while presenting the state budget in the assembly on Friday, which elicited hilarious responses on social media as well as from members of various opposition parties.
CM Ashok Gehlot reads last year’s budget in assembly
On Friday, CM Ashok Gehlot started reading the budget and kept reading it for several minutes before his party leaders and other ministers realised that the budget sounds familiar and asked him to stop. As per reports, the CM kept reading the old budget for nearly 7 minutes.
BJP leader Rajyavardhan Rathore shared the footage.
The opposition had started mocking Congress and laughing in the assembly. The budget session was halted for several minutes as the Congress leaders ran around to locate the current year’s budget papers.