"Secondly, Amritsar is a city where under BJP and Akalis and Punjab as a state social harmony has been the best and therefore, this is the state where there is no religious divide, neither do we try and create one," Jaitley said.
He was replying to a question whether the fact that the majority of 64 per cent voters in Amritsar were Sikhs and the fact that Amarinder had protested against Operation Bluestar and quit his lok Sabha seat and the Congress party were formidable factors against him.
"I am feeling very comfortable. There is a groundswell against the Congress. Amritsar is probably one of the most hospitable cities in India and the affection that I have received from people in the initial days is very touching. It adds to my confidence," he said brushing aside his opponent's jibes that he did not belong to Amritsar.
Perceived to be carrying the baggage of Sidhu's "non-performance" and his absence from the constituency, the senior BJP leader who shares a good equation with the former cricketer, said it was not true.
"First of all, I don't think there is a personal anti-incumbency against him. Secondly, if there is an anti-incumbency, it is against the UPA. And there is a huge huge anti-incumbency against the UPA," he said.
He listed out price rise, the lPG prices, plight of farmers and slowdown in the economy as being responsible for a huge anti-incumbency along with corruption.
"Congress also has a problem of leaderlessness. Now all this is creating an anti-incumbency. Corruption has got down the image of this government. There is a groundswell against the Congress and the people are looking for a change," he said.
Ready to become the "powerful" voice of the Holy city and the region to fight for its rights, Jaitley offered some ambitious plans like opening the border trade with Pakistan, developing Amritsar as a tourism centre and improving its infrastructure.
"The people there (in Amritsar) look at me as a voice which can represent the city at the Centre. I do feel that I suitably qualify for that faith and therefore, they want a voice which will give a boost to the facilitation for the Indo-Pak trade.
"They see a BJP government coming and it is in their interest that somebody who is a part of the government tries to bring that change," he said.
Jaitley said Amritsar is known as a historical city with great religious importance and was also an erstwhile trading centre and thus needs to be developed further.
"Amritsar people want the border trade to begin. The economy of Amritsar depends on border trade. Amritsar has to become a tourism hub. You have to create a tourism infrastructure.
"You have to create a city-based infrastructure which Amritsar indeed should have," he said listing out the sewage, water pipelines, quality of roads, quality of 'sarais', guest houses and hotels, on which the infrastructure will depend.
Jaitley said Amritsar at one stage was known for a certain category of products like textiles and was also a manufacturing hub for them.
"So we do have to take a special effort to revive the manufacturing potential of Amritsar and that is what I have in my mind," he said.
