Former Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Amritsar Capt Amarinder Singh today asked his BJP opponent Arun Jaitely to seek his Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s permission before promising to open trade routes between Amritsar and Lahore. “Because Mr Modi is speaking an entirely different language that is purely jingoistic and confrontationist”, he pointed out.Referring to Mr Jaitely’s frequent wish-list of developing Amritsar as an important trading centre, Capt Amarinder pointed out, it requires good neighbourly relations with Pakistan. “But will it be possible with Mr Modi already having spelt out his confrontationist agenda with India’s neighbours particularly Pakistan?” he asked, while urging him to first calm down his war mongering leader before promising something which he cannot deliver.
“Mr Jaitley happens to belong to the same party whose Prime Minister accompanied by Parkash Singh Badal had taken a bus ride to Lahore while the intruders from Pakistan were in India’s backyard in Kargil”, he pointed out, while adding, “I am only trying to remind you that this is what happened when your party was in power. So think before you sell fake dreams to people lest you cut a sorry figure once again”. Capt Amarinder also had a dig at Jaitley for advising him not to buy a house across the border. “It depends on the trust and confidence people have in you and yes I am proud of having built up such confidence in people including you”, he told Jaitely while taunting him further, “and rest assured, if I intend to buy a house across the border, I will definitely ask you too, since I know you have lots and lots of money with your wealth multiplying so rapidly and so fast, which you may be keen to invest anywhere across the world be it in Amritsar or Lahore as long as it fetches you good returns”.“And yes I am proud of having successfully tried to build up people to people contact between two parts of Punjab”, he told Mr Jaitely, adding, “I am also proud of the fact that the then President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharaf whom I met in Islamabad and on my request he ordered the release of about 600 prisoners, who included several fishermen from Gujarat the state you represent in Rajya Sabha”.