Our union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman is a tough nut to crack. The leaders of North Andhra have learnt this the hard way. When Nirmala Sitaraman came to handloom hub Ponduru in Srikakulam on the National Handloom Day, the local politicos felt that it would be like any other tour of a Central minister. But, they were in for a shock when Nirmala not only came with complete knowledge of the Ponduru handlooms, but even raised questions that the North Andhra biggies couldn’t answer.

Nirmala surprised them with her inside knowledge of the handloom sector and the famed Ponduru khadi. When leaders like speaker Tammineni Sitaram, minister Dharmana Krishna Das and MP Rammohan Naidu tried to explain about Ponduru Khadi, she floored them with her questions. When they wanted special status as handloom hub for Ponduru, she said the government records say that there are only 500 units in Ponduru. “How can a special status be given for just 500 units,” she countered.

At this, Tammineni Sitaram tried to explain that there were over 2500 units if one includes the units in the neighbouring villages. But, Nirmala showed discrepancies in the details provided and asked them to get correct details by using the RTI act. When MP Rammohan Naidu tried to intervene, she told him bluntly that giving correct details is not like making a fiery speech in the Lok Sabha.

Even while distributing the benefits of various central schemes on Handloom Day, she personally verified that the benefits were going to the intended people and that there was no irregularity. She found one or two cases where the names of the beneficiaries and the names on the cheques did not tally. She got them corrected then and there.