On charges by his rival Capt Amrinder Singh that he was an outsider and pseudo-Punjabi, Jaitley explained how his family hailed from Lahore, and his mother was born in Amritsar. I have nearly 50 cousins here in Amritsar. “I can't go to my ancestral home in Lahore, so Amritsar is my second home”.
On the question of being outsider, Jaitley quipped back: “Tell me, to which state does Sonia Gandhi belongs? I think people who down a Patiala peg raise such questions. I don't accept this changed definition of an outsider. The blood of Majha (region) runs 100 per cent in my veins.”
Jaitley said, narco-terrorism was on the rise in Punjab, and the younger generation was falling prey to drugs from across the borders.