Former Indian ambassador to US Taranjit Sandhu joins BJP, to contest Amritsar Lok Sabha seat

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 19

Former Indian ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Tuesday formally joined the BJP. He will contest Amritsar Lok Sabha seat from Punjab.

The distinguished former diplomat returned to Amritsar, the land of his ancestors in February and has been working on the ground ever since holding a series of interactions with all sections of society.

He took the political plunge after ending an illustrious 35 year government service capped by a highly successful stint as India’s Ambassador to the US.

Sandhu was inducted into the BJP by two national general secretaries Tarun Chugh and Vinod Tawde and was welcomed by senior BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

Sandhu is the grandson of Teja Singh Samundri, one of the founders of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. 

Teja Singh quit the British army to join the independence and Gurdwara reforms movement. He died in his 40s in Lahore jail in 1926 under colonial custody.

Taranjit Sandhu’s father Bishan Singh Samundri was the principal of the historic Khalsa College in Amritsar and later founder Vice Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University.

Sandhu’s father studied at the Ohio State University but returned to Amritsar and served here. His mother too studied abroad but made Amritsar her workplace. She was principal of Government College for Women, Amritsar. 

With Sandhu in the fray, BJP hopes to win back Amritsar where it has struggled since 2014 when then leader of opposition Arun Jaitley lost to Congress veteran Amarinder Singh despite the Narendra Modi wave.

In 2019, Congress’ Gurjit Aujla defeated BJP’s Hardeep Puri from the segment.

Earlier Navjot Singh Sidhu represented Amritsar Lok Sabha seat for the BJP between 2004 and 2014.