Senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh today defeated BJP's stalwart Arun Jaitley by a margin of 1,02,770 votes to register victory from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.
Amritsar seat was cynosure of all eyes after Congress put its bet on the former Punjab chief minister on this seat against Jaitley's maiden Lok Sabha poll.
Initially Jaitley fought the "outsider" tag by borrowing a house at Amritsar's upscale locality even as Amarinder dubbed him a "pseudo Punjabi."
Jaitley was BJP's choice as the party replaced three times MP and Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu.
It was considered that the top Akali leadership, including Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, had convinced the BJP to field Jaitley from Amritsar terming it as the safest seat for the BJP stalwart.
However, Singh who was at the beginning reluctant to take on Jaitley, jumped into the fray after Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi reposed faith him.
Amarinder kept his fight by raking up local issues, including Operation Bluestar and drug menace while BJP's contestant mainly banked on national issues and sought votes on making the city a tourist destination.
BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who held five back to back rallies in Punjab to canvass for SAD-BJP candidates, also addressed a rally at Amritsar for Jaitley.
However, it was something else in the minds of electorate of Amritsar which has a population of 65 per cent votes of Sikhs.
The win by Singh is likely to raise his position in the Congress now as the party had been badly drubbed across the country.
Ahead of polls he was first removed as Punjab PCC chief as high-command appointed Partap Singh Bajwa at the coveted post and later he was replaced by former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal as party's campaign committee in-charge.
He was the only tallest leader from Congress who romped home victorious as others Ambika Soni, Sunil Jakhar and Partap Singh Bajwa lost at the hustings.
