Arun Jaitley's wife Sangita and daughter Sonali are doing door-to-door campaigning for the BJP leader.
Amritsar:
The cheering squad has arrived for the BJP's Arun Jaitley who is running for parliament from Amritsar. The 61-year-old candidate's team is led by wife Sangita and daughter Sonali. In true Punjabi style, the more-the-merrier principle reigns and so nieces, sisters and other extended family are all at work. NDTV meets them at breakfast where his niece is handing out Lance Armstrong like bracelets for his campaign. The Chadha house has become the Jaitley temporary residence for now but they are on the lookout for a more permanent place.
'We will go door-to-door,' said Sangita Jaitley. "We spend all our vacations here, I go to all the temples here, this is my hometown so how can they say outsider?" she asked.
Ms Sonali, also a lawyer like her famous father, said that his plans to shift from the Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha aren't out-of-the-box. "He does social service so it can be in any form," she said.
Mr Jaitley displaced cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu as the BJP's candidate from Amritsar. Running against him from the Congress is Captain Amarinder Singh, former chief minister and Maharajah of Patiala.
The bhangra dancers were ready and dancing away atop one of the three trucks that were part of Captain Singh's campaigning convoy.
"It's good luck, do you know?'' said his friend Atul Aneja as a slow drizzle came through. "Look at the crowd," he said pointing to the people who were gawking at the show on the highway, "Have you ever seen anything like it?"
Party workers had made elaborate arrangements to drive home the message for Mr Jaitley. "He should see how many people have turned up to welcome me with the tricolour,'' said the Captain to NDTV. When we asked about speculation that he had been reluctant to contest the Amritsar election, he said, "Yes, I had told Soniaji that I can campaign for the party but when she said this- I agreed."
'We will go door-to-door,' said Sangita Jaitley. "We spend all our vacations here, I go to all the temples here, this is my hometown so how can they say outsider?" she asked.
Ms Sonali, also a lawyer like her famous father, said that his plans to shift from the Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha aren't out-of-the-box. "He does social service so it can be in any form," she said.
Mr Jaitley displaced cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu as the BJP's candidate from Amritsar. Running against him from the Congress is Captain Amarinder Singh, former chief minister and Maharajah of Patiala.
The bhangra dancers were ready and dancing away atop one of the three trucks that were part of Captain Singh's campaigning convoy.
"It's good luck, do you know?'' said his friend Atul Aneja as a slow drizzle came through. "Look at the crowd," he said pointing to the people who were gawking at the show on the highway, "Have you ever seen anything like it?"
Party workers had made elaborate arrangements to drive home the message for Mr Jaitley. "He should see how many people have turned up to welcome me with the tricolour,'' said the Captain to NDTV. When we asked about speculation that he had been reluctant to contest the Amritsar election, he said, "Yes, I had told Soniaji that I can campaign for the party but when she said this- I agreed."
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