Amarinder Singh
| Amarinder Singh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 26th Chief Minister of Punjab | |
|
Assumed office 16 March 2017 | |
| Governor | V. P. Singh Badnore |
| Preceded by | Parkash Singh Badal |
|
In office 26 February 2002 – 1 March 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Parkash Singh Badal |
| Succeeded by | Parkash Singh Badal |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly | |
|
Assumed office 11 March 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Preneet Kaur |
| Constituency | Patiala Urban |
|
In office 2002–2014 | |
| Preceded by | Surjit Singh Kohli |
| Succeeded by | Preneet Kaur |
| Constituency | Patiala Town |
|
In office 1992–1997 | |
| Preceded by | Hardial Singh Rajla |
| Succeeded by | Jagtar Singh Rajla |
| Constituency | Samana |
|
In office 1985–1992 | |
| Preceded by | Avtar Singh |
| Succeeded by | Harminder Singh |
| Constituency | Talwandi Sabo |
| Member of Parliament | |
|
In office 2014 – 23 November 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Navjot Singh Sidhu |
| Succeeded by | Gurjit Singh Aujla |
| Constituency | Amritsar |
|
In office 1980–1984 | |
| Preceded by | Gurcharan Singh Tohra |
| Succeeded by | Charanjit Singh Walia |
| Constituency | Patiala |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
11 March 1942 Patiala, Punjab Province, British India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress (1980–84; 1998–present) |
| Other political affiliations | |
| Spouse(s) | Preneet Kaur (m. 1964) |
| Children | 2, including Raninder Singh |
| Parents | |
| Website | Official website |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 India |
| Service/branch | Indian Army |
| Years of service | 1963–1965 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | Sikh Regiment |
Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942)[1] is an Indian politician, who is currently the 26th Chief Minister of Punjab.[2] An elected Member of the Legislative Assembly from Patiala,[3] he is also the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, the state division of the Indian National Congress.[4] He has also previously served as the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002-2007.[5] His father was the last king of the erstwhile state of Patiala.[5] He also worked for the Indian Army from 1963 to 1966.[6] In 1980, he won a seat in the Lok Sabha for the first time.[5]
Personal life
Singh is the son of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala belonging to the Phulkian dynasty of Sidhu Brar descent.[7] He attended the Welham Boys' School and Lawrence School Sanawar[8] before going to The Doon School,[9] Dehradun. He has one son, Raninder Singh, and one daughter, Jai Inder Kaur, who is married to a Delhi-based businessman, Gurpal Singh.[10] His wife, Preneet Kaur, served as an MP and was Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2014.
His elder sister Heminder Kaur is married to former foreign minister K. Natwar Singh. He is also related to Shiromani Akali Dal (A) supremo and former IPS Officer Simranjit Singh Mann. Mann's wife and Amarinder Singh's wife, Preneet Kaur, are sisters.
Army career
He joined the 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-Pakistan War.[11][12] He served in the Sikh Regiment.[13]
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.[14] In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds it was excessive and unconstitutional.[14]
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.[15] On March 11, 2017 Congress Party won the State Assembly Elections under his leadership.
Amrinder Singh was sworn in as the 26th Chief Minister of Punjab on 16 March 2017 at Punjab Raj Bhavan, Chandigarh. The oath of office was administered by the Punjab governor, V.P. Singh Badnore.[16][17] Right Now CM to take the final call about "Atta dal Scheme” in Punjab.[18]
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.
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.[19][20]
References
- ↑ Quint, The. "Punjab Live: Modi Congratulates Amarinder, Wishes Him Happy B’Day". www.thequint.com. The Quint. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
- ↑ "Amarinder Singh sworn in as Punjab CM". The Hindu. The Hindu. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ↑ Goswami, Dev. "Punjab election results 2017: Full list of winners". indiatoday.intoday.in. Living Media India Limited. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ↑ "Congress In States - Punjab". inc.in. All India Congress Committee. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- 1 2 3 "Who is Capt Amarinder Singh? Everything you need to know". The Indian Express. Express Web Desk. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ↑ "Captain Amarinder back in charge in Punjab for second time". The New Indian Express. PTI. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ↑ 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: Defence Minister Y.B. Chavan's Diary of India-Pakistan War. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. 1 January 2007. pp. xii. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- ↑ "Cong, SAD lay claim to Abdul Hamid Hold parallel rallies to pay homage". The Tribune. 9 September 2003. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- ↑ "Army's account of 1965 war padded, says Capt's new book". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- 1 2 Dhananjay Mahapatra, Dhananjay (27 April 2010). "'Amarinder's removal undemocratic'". Times of India.
- ↑ "'Amarinder appointed Captain of Punjab Congress'". Daily Post India. 27 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
- ↑ "Amarinder Singh sworn in as Punjab CM". The Hindu. The Hindu. MARCH 16, 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ "Captain Amarinder Sworn In as Punjab CM, Nine Ministers Inducted". The Quint. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
- ↑ http://forfeeds.com/health/cm-take-final-call-atta-dal-scheme-punjab/
- ↑ http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/the-war-no-one-lost/
- ↑ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-09-21/news/66761141_1_great-war-new-book-1965-indo-pak-war
| Lok Sabha | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gurcharan Singh Tohra |
Member of Parliament for Patiala 1980 – 1984 |
Succeeded by Sardar Charanjit Singh Walia |
| Preceded by Navjot Singh Sidhu |
Member of Parliament for Amritsar 2014 – 2017 |
Succeeded by Gurjeet Singh Aujla |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Parkash Singh Badal |
Chief Minister of Punjab 26 February 2002 – 1 March 2007 |
Succeeded by Parkash Singh Badal |
| Preceded by Parkash Singh Badal |
Chief Minister of Punjab 16 March 2017 – Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
