Arun Jaitley rakes up Sonia Gandhi's origin to counter 'outsider' barb

NEW DELHI: BJP leader Arun Jaitley hit back at his rival Amarinder Singh for dubbing him an 'outsider' in Amritsar, asking the Congress leader as to which state does his party chief Sonia Gandhi belong.

"Despite my ancestral roots in Punjab, Captain Sahib (Amarider) called me an 'outsider' and a 'pseudo' Punjabi. Will he be kind enough to tell me which state in India does (Congress President) Mrs Sonia Gandhi belong to?

"Regrettably, he is resorting to his old USP -- lower the level of debate through personalised and discourteous language.... I have to resist the temptation of reciprocating in the same manner. However, a polite response is necessary," Jaitley wrote on his website.

The former Punjab Chief Minister is pitted against Jaitley in the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

He said Singh has still not come to the constituency. Jaitley also said that after winning the polls, he will have both office and residential base in Amritsar.

"But will he ever be available to the people of Amritsar at all. Past experience shows that he has been inaccessible not only to the people but also to his own party leaders including his ministers. His availability is only for a few hours since otherwise his palace is always inaccessible to the common man," said the BJP leader.

Jaitley was responding to Singh's poser whether he will shift to Amritsar if he wins the seat.