Amarinder Singh

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For the footballer of similar name, see Amrinder Singh.
Amarinder Singh
15th Chief Ministers of Punjab (India)
In office
2002–2007
Preceded by Parkash Singh Badal
Succeeded by Parkash Singh Badal
President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee
In office
1998–2002
Preceded by Rajinder Kaur Bhattal
Succeeded by H S Hanspal
President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee
In office
2010–2013
Preceded by Mohinder Singh Kaypee
Succeeded by Partap Singh Bajwa
President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee
Assumed office
2015
Preceded by Partap Singh Bajwa
Member of Parliament
Assumed office
2014
Preceded by Navjot Singh Sidhu
Constituency Amritsar
Member of Parliament
In office
1980-1984
Preceded by Gurcharan Singh Tohra
Succeeded by Charanjit Singh Walia
Constituency Patiala
Personal details
Born (1942-03-11) 11 March 1942 (age 82)
Patiala, Punjab
Political party Indian National Congress
Spouse(s) Preneet Kaur
Residence New Moti Bagh Palace, Patiala
Website Official website

Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942) is an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress. Head of the royal family of the erstwhile State of Patiala, he is a former Chief Minister of Punjab.[1] Presently, he is the sitting President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC),[2][3][4] and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the 16th Lok Sabha, having been chosen for the position after his election as a Member of Parliament from Amritsar, where he defeated the prominent BJP leader Arun Jaitley.

Personal life

Singh is the son of late Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala belonging to the Phulkian Jat dynasty.[5] He attended the Welham Boys' School and Lawrence School Sanawar[6] before going to The Doon School,[7] Dehradun. He has one son Raninder Singh and one daughter Jai Inder Kaur who is married to a Delhi-based business man Gurpal Singh.[8] His wife Preneet Kaur, is a former MP having served as a Minister of State in the External Affairs Ministry from 2009 to 2014.

His elder sister Heminder Kaur is married to Former External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh. He is also related to Shiromani Akali Dal (A) supremo and former IPS Officer, Simranjit Singh Mann. Mann and Capt. Amarinder Singh's wife, Geetinder Kaur Mann Maharani Preneet Kaur are sisters.

Army career

He joined Indian Army in June 1963 after graduating from the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy before resigning in early 1965 . He rejoined the Army again as hostilities broke out with Pakistan and served as Captain in the 1965 Indo-Pak War.[9][10]

Political career

He was inducted into the Congress by Rajiv Gandhi, who was his friend from school and was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980. In 1984, he resigned from Parliament and from Congress as a protest against the Army action during Operation Blue Star. Subsequently he joined the Shiromani Akali Dal was elected to the state legislature from Talwandi Sabo and became a minister in the state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats.

In 1992 he broke away from the Akali Dal and formed a splinter group named Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) which later merged with the Congress in 1998 (after his party's crushing defeat in Vidhan Sabha election in which he himself was defeated from his own constituency where he got only 856 votes) after Sonia Gandhi took over the reign of the party. He was defeated by Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra from Patiala Constituency in 1998 by a whooping margin of 33251 votes. He served as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee on two occasions from 1999 to 2002 and 2010 to 2013, he also became Chief Minister of Punjab in 2002 and continued until 2007.

In September 2008, a special committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha expelled him on the count of regularities in the transfer of land related to the Amritsar Improvement Trust by the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party led government.[11] In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds it was excessive and unconstitutional.[11]

He was appointed as chairman of Punjab Congress Campaign Committee in 2008. Captain Amarinder Singh is also a Permanent Invitee to the Congress Working Committee since 2013. He defeated senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley by a margin of more than 1,02,000 votes in 2014 general elections. He has been a member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for five terms representing Patiala (Urban) thrice, Samana and Talwandi Sabo once each.

On 27 November 2015, Amarinder Singh was appointed President of Punjab Congress in the run up to Punjab elections slated for 2017.[12]

President of All India Jat Maha Sabha

Capt Amarinder Singh is president of the All India Jat Maha Sabha. He had been associated with the Jat Maha Sabha for last 30 years as its patron since 1980 when Capt Bhagwan Singh was its president. He demanded reservation for Jats under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.[13]

Books

He has also written books on war and Sikh history which include A Ridge Too Far, Lest We Forget, The Last Sunset: Rise and Fall of Lahore Durbar and The Sikhs in Britain: 150 years of Photographs. Among his most recent works are Honour and Fidelity: India's Military Contribution to the Great War 1914 to 1918 released in Chandigarh on 6 December 2014, and The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce – 1965 India-Pakistan War- which contains his memoirs of the 1965 Indo-Pak war.[14][15]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://zeenews.india.com/news/punjab/captain-amarinder-singh-appointed-new-punjab-congress-chief_1827238.html
  3. ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Captain-Amarinder-Singh-to-steer-Congress-in-Punjab-polls/articleshow/49955148.cms
  4. ↑ http://www.asianage.com/india/amarinder-singh-appointed-new-punjab-pcc-chief-012
  5. ↑ http://www.royalark.net/India/jind.htm
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2397441/Himachal-Pradesh-CMs-daughter-wed-Amarinders-grandson.html
  9. ↑ 1965 War, the Inside Story
  10. ↑ http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030910/main4.htm
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ http://punjabnewsline.com/news/Capt-Amarinder-unanimously-appointed-president-of-All-India-Jat-Maha-Sabha.html
  14. ↑ http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/the-war-no-one-lost/
  15. ↑ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-09-21/news/66761141_1_great-war-new-book-1965-indo-pak-war
Preceded by Chief Minister of Punjab
2002–2007		 Succeeded by
Parkash Singh Badal
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