Former Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Amritsar Capt Amarinder Singh today questioned the timid silence of the BJP candidate Arun Jaitley on some crucial issues concerning Punjab saying he was trying to evade these issues deliberately.“For last two weeks we have been reading your monotonous monologues that smack of self righteous egoistic arrogance touching almost everything under the sun but Punjab”, he told Jaitely why remarking, it either betrays of his (Jaitley’s) ignorance or arrogance.He asked Jaitely to spell out his stand on the crucial Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal that concerns each and every Punjabi. “You just can’t evade the issue by saying it is sub-judice as people of Punjab would like to know yours and your parties opinion about it”, he said, while adding, “we will also like to know about your stand on inter-linking of rivers in Punjab”.
“We have had enough on developing Amritsar as a tourist centre, which for your kind information it already is, enough of developing it as a trade centre, generating employment and so on”, he said, while adding, “in fact your colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu new it better but was not allowed to do anything. Better seek his opinion before committing anything lest u cut a sorry figure like him, he advised Jaitley.Referring to generating employment, Capt Amarinder told Jaitley, “you probably don’t know that 18700 industrial units shut down in Punjab during the last 7 years while you were in power in alliance with Akalis and will you please let us know whether you have some magic wand to waive it around and create investments and jobs”.The former Chief Minister informed Jaitley that Punjab’s debt had already crossed Rs one lakh crores and it was continuously multiplying. “Your government is taking loans to pay interest on this debt and now RBI has refused any further overdraft to the state resulting in delayed salaries and pensions by over three months”, he told Jaitley while adding, “I hope you answer these questions rather than going on and on with the self centred monologues that have become so characteristic of your style”.Capt Amarinder pointed out, he had been asking so many questions to Jaitley for such a long time. “But the gentleman (Jaitley) has chosen not to answer”, he said, while adding, “he is either ignorant and has no answers or he is arrogant and does not want to answer”.