Captain Amarinder Singh is the son of Yadavindra Singh and Mohinder Kaur, former Maharaja of Patiala. The house of Patiala belongs to the Phulkian dynasty. He attended the Welham Boys’ School and Lawrence School Sanawar and The Doon School, Dehradun. His children include Yuvraj Raninder Singh and Jai Inder Kaur. His wife Preneet Kaur, is an MP serving as Minister of State in the External Affairs Ministry. He served as a captain in Indian Army. Captain Amarinder Singh joined Indian Army in June 1963 and resigned in early 1965. He rejoined the Army again as hostilities broke out with Pakistan. He again resigned after the war was over in early 1966. He was inducted into the Congress by Rajiv Gandhi. Captain Amarinder Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980. In 1984, he resigned from Parliament and from Congress as a protest against the Army action during Operation Blue Star. He joined the Shiromani Akali Dal was elected to the state legislature and became a minister in the state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats. Captain Amarinder Singh broke away from the Akali Dal and formed a splinter group named Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) which later merged with the Congress. He served as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee from 1999 to 2002 and became Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007. In September 2008, a special committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha expelled him on the count of regularities in the transfer of land related to the Amritsar Improvement Trust by the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party led government. In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds it was excessive and unconstitutional. He was elected the chairman of Punjab Congress Committee for the second time in 2009 up to March 2013. Captain Amarinder Singh is president of the All India Jat Maha Sabha. He had been associated with the Jat Maha Sabha for last 30 years as its patron since 1980 when Capt Bhagwan Singh was its president. He demands reservation of Jats under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. And against removal of social evils like Female foeticide in India and dowry system prevailing in Jat community. Captain Amarinder Singh has also written books on war and Sikh history they include A Ridge Too Far, Lest We Forget and the most recent being The Last Sunset; Rise and Fall of Lahore Durbar.
