Amarinder Singh
Amarinder Singh | |
---|---|
Chief Minister of Punjab | |
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 |
Member of Parliament | |
Incumbent | |
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 | Patiala, Punjab | March 11, 1942
Political party | Indian National Congress |
Spouse(s) | Preneet Kaur |
Residence | New Moti Bagh Palace, Patiala |
Website | Official website |
Captain Amarinder Singh (born March 11, 1942) is an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress. Belonging to the erstwhile royal state of Patiala he is a former Chief Minister of Punjab, .[1] At present he is Deputy Leader of Opposition in 16th Lok Sabha, a post he was appointed to after his election as a Member of Parliament from Amritsar ,where he has defeated BJP's stalwart Arun Jaitley.
Personal life
Singh is the son of late Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala belonging to the Phulkian dynasty.[2] He attended the Welham Boys' School and Lawrence School Sanawar[3] before going to The Doon School,[4] Dehradun. He has one son Raninder Singh and one daughter Jai Inder Kaur who is married to a Delhi based business man Gurpal Singh.[5] 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 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.[6][7]
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.[8] In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds it was excessive and unconstitutional.[8]
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.
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.[9] continues to work for the removal of social evils like Female foeticide in India and dowry system prevailing in Jat community.[10][11]
Books
He has also written books on war and Sikh history they include A Ridge Too Far, Lest We Forget and the most recent being The Last Sunset: Rise and Fall of Lahore Durbar and the other book is "The Sikhs in Britain:150 years of Photographs". The latest book written by him is Honour and Fidelity: India's Military Contribution to the Great War 1914 to 1918" was released in Chandigarh on 6 December 2014.
References
- ↑ "City Centre Scam: Next hearing on February 27". The Times Of India. 6 February 2010.
- ↑ http://www.royalark.net/India/jind.htm
- ↑ Sharma, Pratul (19 January 2012). "Captain goes all guns blazing: Congress's Amarinder Singh insists he hasn't mellowed and is sure of victory in Punjab as he takes on the Badals". Daily Mail (London).
- ↑ "'Seven Doscos in 15th Lok Sabha'". The Indian Express. 31 May 2009.
- ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2397441/Himachal-Pradesh-CMs-daughter-wed-Amarinders-grandson.html
- ↑ 1965 War, the Inside Story
- ↑ http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030910/main4.htm
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dhananjay Mahapatra, Dhananjay (27 April 2010). "'Amarinder's removal undemocratic'". Times of India.
- ↑ http://punjabnewsline.com/news/Capt-Amarinder-unanimously-appointed-president-of-All-India-Jat-Maha-Sabha.html
- ↑ http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/HimachalPradesh/Capt-Amarinder-Singh-is-Jat-mahasabha-chief/Article1-1059081.aspx
- ↑ "Amarinder Singh now to lead jats - The Times of India". The Times Of India. 13 May 2013.
Preceded by Parkash Singh Badal |
Chief Minister of Punjab 2002–2007 |
Succeeded by Parkash Singh Badal |
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