‘I had a good innings with Congress’: Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, wife of ex-Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, joins BJP

In February 2023, Kaur was suspended from the Congress for alleged ‘anti-party’ activities.

Published on: Mar 14, 2024, 15:04:13 IST

By HT News Desk, New Delhi

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Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, suspended by the Congress in February 2023 for alleged ‘anti-party’ activities, on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with her switch coming on the eve of Lok Sabha polls, likely to be held in April-May.

Also Read: Four-time Congress MP Preneet Kaur set to join BJP

She joined her new party in the presence of several senior leaders, including Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar, also an ex-Congressman.

Speaking to the media afterwards, she said she will continue to work for her constituency, state, and the country, now under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi.

“I do not want to go into the past…I had a good innings with the Congress party. And I hope I will have a better innings with the BJP,” Kaur said.

When asked about contesting the general elections, the parliamentarian replied that this will be decided by the party.

Kaur's spouse is BJP leader Captain Amarinder Singh, who had two stints as Punjab chief minister with the Congress, including one as recently as from March 2017 to September 2021. After being removed as chief minister, Singh floated his own Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) in November that year, and merged it with the BJP in September 2022.

The couple's daughter, Jai Inder Kaur, too is in the BJP. There have been speculations that Jai Inder could be fielded from Patiala.

Also Read: With Preneet’s exit, Cong struggling to find ‘suitable’ candidate from Patiala

Meanwhile, in December last year, Preneet Kaur created a flutter when she voted in favour of expelling Trinamool Congress's Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha on cash-for-query charges. The Patiala MP was the only opposition member on the ethics committee to vote for the expulsion of Moitra, who subsequently lost her membership of the House.

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