Pitted against each other in Punjab’s one of the prestigious electoral battle, three-time Rajya Sabha member Arun Jaitley and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh are in no mood to pull down their verbal attacks on their rivals.
The latest salvo was fired by the Congress candidate from Amritsar who asserted that Jaitley’s move to buy a house in the holy city would be brought to the notice of the Election Commission of India.
A day after SAD-BJP candidate from Amritsar Arun Jaitley bought a house, he maintained that the move came “on Capt Amarinder’s advice” — in an apparent move to get away with a tag of “outsider”.
“Capt advised me to buy house on the Indian side of the border. Now, I advise Capt Amarinder not to buy house on the other side of the border,” said Jaitley in a humoristic tone.
Reacting, Capt Amarinder said that buying a “luxurious house does not win Jaitley an election… only winning people’s hearts will do… This is too little for Jaitley to fight the tag of an outsider”.
Capt Amarinder disclosed that he will be bringing this purchase to the attention of the Election Commission of India so that this is included in Jaitley’s election expenditure. To which, Jaitley reacted, “Capt Amarinder has option and he can exercise it by bringing the facts in the notice of Election Commission as who stops him.”
He contended, “This house has been purchased by Jaitley with the sole purpose of convincing people here that he be considered to be a local resident which means he has done it with the purpose of winning the election that makes it a clear case of election expense…Even Jaitley has himself admitted that he had bought this house since he is being considered as an outsider.”
Asserting that it was just a poll gimmick by the BJP candidate, Capt Amarinder asked Jaitley, “You have been a Member of Parliament from Gujarat for last 14 years…how come you never felt a need to buy a house there while you have bought a house here before the elections.”
CAPTAIN QUESTIONS
JAITlEY’S ‘UNEXPlAINED RAPID GROWTH’ IN WEAlTH
Capt Amarinder questioned “unexplained rapid growth” in Jaitley’s wealth between 2006 and 2012. “In 2006, in his affidavit while filing nomination papers for Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat, he mentioned his wealth to be `26 crore and in 2012, it turned out to be `158 crore,” pointed the former Chief Minister.
He said, this was despite the fact that he had given up his legal practice in 2009 and his only source of income was his salary as the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. “Will he explain it pleaseIJ” Capt Amarinder asked his rival.
‘BARU’S BOOK CONFIRMS WHAT COUNTRY FElT’
Reacting on the claims made in Dr Sanjaya Baru’s latest book, The Accidental Prime Minister, Jaitley said that this “only confirms what the country ordinarily suspected”.
“I have started reading the book and shortly I will go through it completely. Moreover, writer of the book is an inside person having depth knowledge as what is going there,” he added.
Jaitley added, “The Prime Minister has to take most of its decisions approved and ratified from the Congress president. All sensitive subjects have to be discussed with the person outside the Government. The appointments of key officials would be regulated by 10 Janpath. Contracts such as the coal blocks allocations were allotted by the party.”
“Amongst various institutions which have been dwarfed in the UPA regime, principal one was the office of Prime Minister itself. Dr Baru’s book confirms this,” he said.
BADAlS BElIEVE JAITlEY HAS A MAGIC WAND: CAPT AMARINDER
Taking a dig at Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and his Deputy son Sukhbir Badal, Congress candidate Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday said the father-son duo are selling “fake” dreams to the people of Amritsar about Arun Jaitley becoming the Deputy Prime Minister or the Finance Minister who can cure all ills inflicted by them on Punjab.
Capt Amarinder, addressing a series of public meetings in villages falling under Ajnala and Raja Sansi Assembly segments, said: “First of all, Jaitley is not going to win as is more than obvious from the mood of the people of Amritsar. Probably Badals believe that Jaitley either has a magic wand or has got some currency note-printing machine and he will flush them with money.”
Meanwhile, Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday visited Jallianwala Bagh to pay homage to the martyrs who laid down their lives on April 13, 1919.