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Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 24
With the passing away of former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Amritsar city has also lost connection to one of the senior-most BJP leaders.
He was connected to the city in two different ways.
He had replaced disgruntled BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu as the SAD-BJP candidate for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat in 2014. However, Congress stalwart Capt Amarinder Singh had defeated him by over one lakh votes.
Jaitley’s another connection to the city was by blood relation. His mother Ratan Prabha was born and brought up here.
Her father Ruldu Ram Trikha, a resident of Bazaar Khoo Sunarian, situated in the walled city, was a cloth merchant.
A distant relative, Rama Trikha, said no close relative lives here anymore.
She recalled that Ratan Prabha had a sister and a brother. The brother had passed away some years ago.
Jaitley’s wife Sangeeta is the daughter of former Congress minister Girdhari Lal Dogra, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir.
Girdhari Lal’s brothers Kishan Lal and Darbari Lal were also settled in the holy city. However, both of them had also passed away over a decade and a half ago.
Rajeev Kumaria is also a distant relative of Jaitley who resides in the city.
A descendent of Mishr Mahabali, a courtier of legendary Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he is the principal of 132-year-old PBN Senior Secondary School.