Suspended Congress MP from Patiala and wife of former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, Preneet Kaur, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today in Delhi ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Kaur, aged 79 and a four-time MP, previously served as Union Minister of State for External Affairs. She was suspended by the Congress in February last year for her support towards her husband, who departed from the party after being ousted as CM. Subsequently, he formed the Punjab Lok Congress before merging it with the BJP.
During her tenure as the lone Opposition MP on the Lok Sabha Ethics Panel, Kaur voted in favor of the report probing 'cash-for-query' charges against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. She aligned with the government's stance, advocating for Moitra's expulsion.
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Hailing from an illustrious background, Kaur, an alumna of St Bede’s College in Shimla, is the daughter of Gian Singh Kahlon, a former chief secretary of Punjab and a distinguished Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer. Her marriage to Amarinder Singh, scion of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala, dates back to October 1964.
Kaur's political journey includes representing the Patiala Lok Sabha constituency four times, except for 2014 when she lost to Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Dharamvira Gandhi. Following Amarinder's victory in the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat in 2014, Kaur contested and triumphed in the Patiala (Urban) Assembly constituency by-election.
Apart from her political endeavors, Kaur has also been active in social initiatives, notably running an NGO named Sanjeevani, catering to differently-abled children.