- Amarinder Singh
Infobox President
name = Capt. Amarinder Singh
small| caption Amarinder Singh
birth_date =birth date and age|1942|03|11
birth_place =Patiala , Punjab
residence =Patiala
death_date =
death_place =
order = 29th Chief Minister of Punjab
term_start =
term_end =
predecessor =Parkash Singh Badal
successor =Parkash Singh Badal
party = Congress
religion =Sikh
spouse =Preneet Kaur Capt. Amarinder Singh (born
March 11 ,1942 ,Patiala ,India ) is aMember of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Vidhan Sabha and formerChief Minister of Punjab.Background
He is the son of Late
Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala and was the head of the royal house of Patiala. He was educated at the two top schools of India, namely theLawrence School, Sanawar andDoon school Dehradun .Apparently he has close links with Ch. Parvaiz Elahi, a veteran politician from West Punjab who is from the Jatt Gondal Clan and was also the governor of West Punjab
Army background
He was commissioned in the
Indian Army in June1963 and resigned in early1965 . He rejoined the Army immediately because hostilities broke out withPakistan and took part in the actual operations in war against Pakistan and again resigned after the war was over in early1966 .A soldier-turned-politician, Captain Singh was a personal friend of, and was inducted into the Congress, by
Rajiv Gandhi . Singh quit the Congress in protest againstOperation Bluestar - in which security forces attacked the Sikhs holiest shrine the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab. In the immediate aftermath of Operation Bluestar, the then prime ministerIndira Gandhi was assassinated. Singh went on to join theAkali Dal . Patiala royal scion Amarinder Singh, also a Doon School alumni, came into the Congress at about the time Sonia Gandhi took over the reigns of the party. Singh is also a former Punjab minister.Political career
He was elected to the
Lok Sabha on anIndian National Congress ticket in1980 . In1984 , he resigned from Parliament and from Congress (I) as a protest against the Army entry in Darbar Sahib's complex inOperation Bluestar . He became convenor of theSikh Forum and joined theShiromani Akali Dal . He was elected to the state legislature and became a minister in the state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats.He broke away from the Akali Dal and formed a splinter group which later merged with the Congress. His wife
Preneet Kaur was elected to Parliament in 1999 and again in 2004.His sister is married to congress politician
Natwar Singh who was Minister of External Affairs till 2005 in theManmohan Singh government.
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