Amritsar:
Amritsar is unfolding as one of the most keenly-watched and tightly-contested battles of 2014. BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is expected to campaign here next week, but his party has had to shift strategy because of a strong sentiment of anger in the area against its ally the Akali Dal.
Hoping to tap into this discontent is Congress' Captain Amarinder Singh. Speaking to NDTV at the city's historic Naushera House, he launched a frontal attack on BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who is contesting his first parliamentary election from Amritsar, and called him "glib" and "arrogant". He also vowed to "send him packing to Delhi."
Here are the highlights of the interview:- I can bet on this, I will send Arun Jaitley packing to Delhi
- Jaitley is glib, over-clever and arrogant. Let him not lecture me
- Jaitley's Akali aide Majithia is a monkey and worse
- That chap (Jaitley) miscalculated anger against Akalis
- Let (Narendra) Modi come, he will discover there is no wave here at all
- Amritsar's election will be decided on regional issues
- Anger against Akalis will swing this election in our favour
- If Modi becomes PM, there will be riots in India
- Whether Modi is PM or not, Amritsar is about local issues
- Jaitley lying about who started property tax here. We didn't sign it
- Narendra Modi is a "war mongerer" when it comes to Pakistan
- I've been a soldier, I understand the value of peace
- Let Jaitley first live in a border village and then talk about Pakistan policy
- How can Jaitley talk of opening border trade when Modi is a "war mongerer"
- Yes 1984 was a blot for the Congress, but Rahul was 11 then
- Some Congress leaders were involved in 84, but not Tytler
- Bhagat and Sajjan Kumar guilty in 84, not Jagdish Tytler
- I quit Congress over 84, returned because where else could I go?