Include Jaitley's Amritsar house purchase in election expenses: Amarinder

Amritsar, April 13 (IANS) Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley's move to purchase a house here could run into trouble with his Congress opponent Amarinder Singh saying that he will complain to the Election Commission (EC) and seek to get it included in Jaitley's poll expenses.

Jaitley has bought a 350 square yards built-up house at a cost of Rs.1 crore in Amritsar's upscale Green Avenue area. The purchase was done to give an impression that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was not an "outsider", as he was being tagged by his opponents.

But Jaitley's main opponent, Amarinder Singh told media Sunday that he will be bringing this purchase to the attention of the EC so that this is included in Jaitley's election expenditure.

Under the existing rules, Lok Sabha candidates can spend a maximum of Rs.70 lakh on campaign related things.

Taking a dig at Jaitley, Amarinder said: "Buying a luxurious house does not win you an election, only winning the people's hearts will do. This is too little and too late for Mr Jaitley to fight the tag of an outsider."

"This house has been purchased by Mr Jaitely with the sole purpose of convincing people here that he be considered to be a local resident which means he has done it with the purpose of winning the election that makes it a clear case of election expense," contended the former chief minister.

Asserting that Jaitley's house purchase move was a poll gimmick, Amarinder asked him: "You have been a member of parliament from Gujarat for the last 14 years. How come you never felt a need to buy a house there while you have bought a house here before the election.

"Mr Jaitley was being insincere at least to the people of one state either Gujarat, from where he remained an MP for last 14 years and still is or the people of Punjab from where he aspires to be an MP now."

In a lighter vein, Amarinder added: "Anyway it is good that he has purchased a house here which he will never need to live in, but in any case after the elections if he wishes he can certainly rent it out to me as I will need one here."