Punjab Congress leader Preneet Kaur to join BJP on Thursday

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 13

Shimla-born Preneet Kaur, the veteran Congress MP from Patiala Lok Sabha segment and former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s wife, will join the BJP here on Thursday, drawing curtains on a decades-long Congress career.

Kaur’s switch to the BJP was long anticipated.

Amarinder, along with their children, Raninder Singh and Jai Inder Kaur, had joined the BJP in September 2022.

Preneet, who has been representing Patiala in the Lok Sabha since 1999 (13th Lok Sabha election) may be fielded from the same seat again although the long-held view was to field Jai Inder Kaur.

Sources say that in a tough Punjab battleground where the BJP is yet to find a foothold, Jai Inder might find the going tough in Patiala.

The BJP, in talks with the Shiromani Akali Dal for a pre-poll Lok Sabha pact in the state, will insist on Patiala and Ludhiana apart from Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur, which it earlier traditionally contested when in alliance with the SAD.

Kaur’s age, however, is against her. She is 80 and is well past Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 75-year cap to contest Lok Sabha election.

Kaur was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999 and re-elected in the 2004, 2009 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In 2014, her husband had contested the Lok Sabha poll and defeated late Arun Jaitley from Amritsar despite a Modi wave.

Kaur was Punjab MLA between 2014 and 2017.

She was Minister of State for External Affairs from 2009 to 2012 in the Congress-led UPA 2.