Puri asserts to be voice of Amritsar

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 25

Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (Independent charge), has asserted to be the voice of residents of the border city in Parliament and pride of turban in the world. He will file his nomination papers tomorrow.

Talking to mediapersons here today during his maiden visit to the holy city after being named BJP candidate for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, he said he had fought for the pride of the turban during a search by security officials at the Houston Airport in the US in 2010. “I was posted as permanent Ambassador in New York”. 

“I had got the extensive opportunity to interact with Sikh diaspora during my posting as Ambassador in London and New York and understood their love and emotions towards Punjab in general and the city of the Golden Temple in particular.”

Flanked by former Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi and Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, who had also staked claim for Amritsar ticket, Puri said though he had adopted Mudhal village after staying couple of nights with one of its Dalit families in April, 2018, following directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but never imagined that the party would select him to serve the holy city. 

Refuting the Opposition claims of being an outsider, he said he personally oversaw development works of the adopted village. He said his ministry was instrumental in releasing Rs 1,500 crore for Amritsar in capacity of Smart City project and Rs 70 crore under the HRIDAY. So he had the opportunity to minutely observe its future course of development. 

Puri said he would come out with a vision document soon. He elaborated that this document would include the border district’s overall growth like measures to prolong the stay of tourists, reducing pollution, de-congest roads, planned urbanisation and many more issues. 

His wife Lakshmi Puri, also a career diplomat, accompanied him during the visit. She is of Maharashtrian origin who had served as IFS officer for nearly three decades before joining the UN as Permanent Secretary of the Union Government. Local BJP leaders and close associates of Puri have already opened a political office and hired a house for their stay.