Monday, May 20

Suspended Congress Leader Preneet Kaur Joins BJP

Edited by Aishwarya Krishnan
Suspended Congress Leader Preneet Kaur Joins BJP

Suspended Congress’ Patiala MP and former union minister Preneet Kaur has joined BJP today. Ms Kaur is married to former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh. Mr Singh, who had left Congress before the Punjab Assembly elections is currently part of BJP.

The four-time MP and a former Union Minister of State for External Affairs was suspended by the Congress in February last year for engaging in anti-party activities by helping her husband. Amarinder Singh had quit Congress and formed the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) in 2022. Singh then merged his party with the BJP.

Addressing her potential entry in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections under the BJP banner, Ms Kaur simply replied that it depended on the party.

Speaking to ANI, Ms Kaur stated that she will work for “my constituency, my state and the country under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi.” When questioned about the reason behind her decision to quit Congress, she replied, “I don’t want to go to the past. I had a good innings with the Congress party  and I hope I’ll have a better innings with the BJP.”

Daughter of Gian Singh Kahlon, a former chief secretary of Punjab and an Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer during the British era, Kaur contested and won the Patiala Lok Sabha seat in 1999 as a Congress candidate.

Since then, Kaur has maintained her stronghold over the seat four times except in 2014 when she faced defeat against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Dharamvira Gandhi. In 2014, Kaur was served with a notice for allegedly holding accounts in a Swiss bank, an allegation she has denied. Prior to the 2019 elections, she declared assets worth Rs 82 crore.

The 79-year-old served as a Punjab MLA between 2014 and 2017. Her husband, Amarinder Singh, had contested the Lok Sabha poll in 2014, defeating the late Arun Jaitley, the then Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, from the Amritsar seat.