Capt. Amarinder Singh is the present Chief Minister of Punjab.

Royal Lineage

He is the son of His Highness Late MaharajaYadavindra Singh of Patiala and is the head of the former royal house of Patiala. He was educated at the prestigious Doon School .

Army Background

He was born on 11th March, 1942 at Patiala. He commissioned in the Indian Army in June 1963 and resigned in early 1965. He rejoined Army immediately because hostilities broke out with Pakistan and took part in the actual operations in war against Pakistan and again resigned after the war was over in early 1966.

Political History

He was elected to the Lok Sabha on a INC ticket in 1980. In 1984 he resigned from Parliament and from Congress(I) as a protest against the Army entry in Darbar Sahib's complex in "Operation Bluestar" .He became convenor of the Sikh Forum and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal. He was elected to the state legislature and became a minister in the state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats.

He broke away from the Akali Dal and formed a splinter group which later merged with the Congress. His tenure as Chief Minister has seen much rivalry and infighting within the party.

His wife Parneet Kaur was elected to Parliament in 2004.