Former Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Amritsar Capt Amarinder Singh today asked the BJP candidate Arun Jaitley as why the Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has so far not withdrawn the petition against the Punjabi farmers from Gujarat.In an informal conversation with reporters before embarking upon a ‘Road Show’ from DAV College to Hindu College here today, he said, despite the passage of almost two months of the public commitment he made during a rally at Jagraon in Punjab on February 23 last, nothing has been done by the Gujarat government till now.“We want Mr Jaitely to clear the air on such an important issue that touches every Punjabi including him (Mr Jaitley) since he also claims to be one”, he remarked, while adding, Jaitley owed an answer primarily for three reasons.
One, he is an MP from Gujarat. Two he has been claiming to have roots in Punjab and three he is now contesting from the most important city of Punjab that is representative of its history and culture. “That makes it all the more important for him to spell out his stand”, he asserted.“I am not asking much from Jaitley”, he remarked, while adding, “it is a simple question as why is Gujarat government not prepared to withdraw its appeal in the Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court verdict that is in favour of Punjabi farmers?”Replying to a question that Jaitley was claiming that he was only talking about issues while he (Capt Amarinder) was talking about persons only, Capt Amarinder remarked, “when a person himself becomes an issue and that too for all the wrong reasons, whether he be Modi or Majithia, obviously questions will be raised”.He asked, why Jaitley was shying away from giving answers to his questions. He pointed out, he has asked for Jaitley’s position on several issues, but he was yet to answer any of these questions. “Does it not smack of either arrogance or ignorance?” he asked, while adding, “he has had enough of monologues, time has come for dialogues now and this is the time for answers to the questions his monologues have generated”.