M A I N   N E W S

Capt’s brother to rejoin Cong
Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service

Malvinder Singh

Chandigarh, March 13
For a change, family has taken precedence over politics. Malvinder Singh, the estranged brother of former Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh, will rejoin the Congress tomorrow.

Upset over being denied the Congress ticket from Samana, Malvinder Singh had quit the party in January 2012 — just ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections.

He had then blamed his sister-in-law and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur of supporting her son, Raninder Singh, as the party candidate from Samana -- the seat that Malvinder had been eyeing to contest from.

He had joined the rival Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) camp, while his brother Capt Amarinder Singh was heading the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and was the party's chief ministerial candidate -- thus causing huge embarrassment to his brother.

According to sources, Malvinder Singh now was feeling alienated within the Akali Dal. Though he was reportedly promised by the Akali leadership that he would be fielded from Patiala in the Lok Sabha elections, realpolitik took over and the Akalis decided to field another Congressman and a former confidant of Malvinder's sister-in-law and sitting MP Preneet Kaur -- Deepinder Singh Dhillon -- as the party candidate from Patiala.

Malvinder's insistence that he would not speak against his elder brother in any function and his repeated reprimands to other Akali leaders in case they spoke against Capt Amarinder at public functions in his presence did not find him much favour with the Akalis. The Akalis had got him in their party thinking that he could be used against Capt Amarinder, but Malvinder refused to toe that line.

Meanwhile, Capt Amarinder too made efforts to convince his brother to return to the Congress. Though Malvinder's rejoining the party may not give any fillip to the Congress as he does not have any independent cadre of followers, it is certainly a boost to the image of Capt Amarinder Singh within the party.