Amarinder Singh

Amarinder Singh
Captain Amarinder Singh is an Indian politician and a former Chief Minister of Punjab. He is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) and he is also the head of the royal family of the erstwhile State of Patiala. Presently he is the president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee as well as the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the 16th Lok Sabha. In 2014 general elections, he won the election from Amritsar defeating the BJP leader Arun Jaitley. Amarinder Singh is also expected to be the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Congress party in the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. He is the titular Maharaja of Patiala. Born on 11th March 1942 in Patiala, Punjab, Amarinder Singh is the son of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur and the family belongs to the Phulkian Jat dynasty of Sidhu Brar descent. Amarinder Singh did his schooling from Welham Boys School and Lawrence School Sanawar before going to the Doon School in Dehradun. After graduating from the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy, he joined Indian Army in 1963 but he resigned in 1965. He rejoined army and served as the Captain in the 1965 Indo-Pak war after the hostilities broke out with Pakistan. Amarinder Singh was a school friend of Rajiv Gandhi and he inducted Amarinder Singh into the Congress Party. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 but in 1984, he resigned from the parliament as well as from the party as a protest against the actions of the army during the Operation Blue Star. He then joined Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and was elected for the state legislature from Talwandi Sabo and become the minister in state for agriculture, forest, development and panchayats. He broke away from the Akali Dal in 1992 and formed his own group called Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic). In the Vidhan Sabha election, his party was defeated in the election and he himself was defeated from his constituency and had acquired only 856 votes. After Sonia Gandhi took over the control of the Cngress party, Amarinder Singh merged his party with the Congress party in 1998. In the 1998 elections, contesting from the Conress party, he was defeated from the Patiala constituency b a margin of 33,251 votes. In 1999 he was selected as the President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and held this post till 2002. In 2002, he became the Chief Minister of Punjab and continued until 2007. He was again appointed as the chairman of Punjab Congress Committee in 2008. He has been a member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for five terms and has represented Patiala thrice and once represented Samana and Talwand Sabo. In the 2014 general elections, he defeated a senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley by the margin of 1,02,000 votes. In November 2015, forecasting the 2017 assembly elections, Amarinder Singh was appointed as the President of Punjab Congress.Amarinder Singh is married to Preneet Kaur. His wife has served as an MP from 2009-2014 and was Minister of state in Ministry of external affairs . the couple has one son Raninder Singh and one daughter Jai Inder Kaur. His elder sister is married to K Natwar Singh, former foreign minister. Amarinder Singh came into controversies in September 2008 when a special committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha expelled him on the count of irregularities in the transfer of land related to the Amritsar Improvement Trust. However, Amarinder Singh was able to the held the committees decision on the case and in 2010 the Supreme Court held his expulsion and stated it unconstitutional and excessive. Amarinder Singh is also the president of All India Jat Maha Sabha and has been associated with the Maha Sabha from the past 30 years and has demanded reservations for Jats under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. He has also been an author and has written books on war and Sikh History. Books written by him include A Ridge Too Far, Lest We Forget, The Last Sunset: Rise and Fall of Lahore Durbar and The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce 1965 India-Pakistan-War.
Read More
                
Read Less

Amarinder Singh Photos ALL

Amarinder Singh News

By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts Cookies Policy.