Jaitley flays Amarinder on Tytler, tax issue

Taking a swipe at Amarinder Singh's royal background, BJP leader Arun Jaitley today said the politics of the Congress leader reflects his ''feudal mindset'' as he has been caught ''lying with a straight face'' on the property tax and Jagdish Tytler issue.

Jaitley, who is pitted against Amarinder in this seat, also charged that his rival lives in a "world of sycophants".

"The politics of Congress candidate from Amritsar Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh only reflects his feudal instincts. He still lives in a world of sycophants where he is referred to as 'Maharaja Sahib'. He is discourteous and rude. He believes that discourtesy has given him the image of being 'Dabbang’", he said.

"Amarinder Singh is not the best practitioner of ethical values. What is amazing is his ability to be extremely economical with the truth," Jaitley charged.

Raking up the property tax issue, he said, Amarinder was caught being "untruthful" on the matter.

"The tax was levied on the basis of his undertaking dated 7th December, 2006 to the Centre. I produced before the media the file carrying his signatures of approval. He ignored the truth and could bluntly lie that he did not approve it.

"The whole country saw him stand up and defend Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 riots case in an interview to a news channel. He today denies that he ever gave Tytler a clean chit. He, in a monarchical style, shouts down criticism and refuses to take questions," he charged.

"Having been caught lying with the straight face on the property tax and the Jagdish Tytler issue, any other candidate would have been put to shame before the people. But this emperor, even when caught without clothes, has the ability to  look at you in the eye. This feudalism must be defeated," Jailtley said in his campaign dairy.

Talking about the BJP campaign, he said, "There is clarity in the campaign.The acceptability of the leader is extremely high. The groundswell seems to be building up not only in our traditional support areas but also in those regions where our strength is relatively marginal".

"As against this, the Congress campaign is more abstract and confused.The leadership is non-inspirational, anti incumbency is hurting them significantly," he claimed.

Barring the BJP and its allies, some regional parties appear to be doing well within the confines of their region, he noted.

"Most of these regional parties are conventionally anti- Congress. The third front or the federal front has a sporadic presence through certain regional groups but there is no  structured alliance," he said.

"Most opinion polls are predicting a comfortable BJP/NDA victory.No other alliance, expect the NDA has any rational possibility of forming the government. Narendra Modi has  become symbol of hope," he said.