Amarinder Singh Biography

About Capt. Amarinder Singh

Captain Amarinder Singh is an Indian politician affiliated to the Indian National Congress. He is the head of the royal family of the erstwhile State of Patiala. He is the Incumbent Chief Minister of Punjab. Captain Amarinder Singh, 75 was sworn in as the 26th Chief Minister of Punjab on 16th of March 2017. He took the oath of office along with nine ministers. He won his seat from Patiala. Amarinder Singh a former Armyman is also the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. He has also been the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002-2007.

Political Career of Amarinder Singh

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

Amarinder Singh broke away from the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1992 and formed a splinter group named Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic). This party merged with the Congress in 1998 after its crushing defeat in the subsequent Vidhan Sabha election. Amarinder himself was defeated by Prof. Prem Singh Chandumajra from Patiala by a formidable margin of votes. Amarinder served as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee between 1999 and 2002 as well as 2010 and 2013. He was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007.

Amarinder was expelled by a special committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha in September 2008 on account of land-related transaction irregularities. In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion as unconstitutional. He was appointed as chairman of Punjab Congress Campaign Committee and has been a Permanent Invitee to the Congress Working Committee since 2013. He defeated senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley from Amritsar by a huge margin in the 2014 general elections. He has been a member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for five terms thrice representing Patiala (Urban) and Samana and Talwandi Sabo once each. On 27 November 2015, Amarinder Singh was appointed as President of Punjab Congress in the run-up to Punjab elections slated for 2017.