In Punjab, Captain Amarinder’s absence from BJP campaign rings loud as Preneet faces heat in bastion

Former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, 82, has been missing from the BJP’s campaign in the state during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Amarinder was not seen even at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally held on Thursday on his home turf Patiala, from where his wife Preneet Kaur is contesting on the BJP’s ticket. This was PM Modi’s first rally in Punjab in the current polls.

A close aide of Amarinder said he had written a letter to Modi on Wednesday to tell him that he would not be able to participate in the rally as he has been unwell. His aide said it was Amarinder who had requested Modi to address a rally in Patiala in support of his wife.

Amarinder was also not with Preneet when she had gone to file her nomination papers on May 13.

Punjab BJP spokesman Pritpal Singh Baliawal, who is also the party in-charge of the Patiala Lok Sabha constituency, said that Amarinder has been “unwell”.

“Captain Amarinder Singh was hospitalised for a health issue, when Preneet Kaur had gone to file her nomination papers. Later, he was discharged. We were waiting for him to join the campaign and then he suffered from gastroenteritis. He was on a drip and was feeling drained,” Baliawal said. “For Prime Minister’s rally, it was certain that he would be on the stage. But he felt too weak to come and speak. He wrote a letter to the PM expressing his inability to attend the rally, which was handed over to PM by Preneet Kaur on the rally stage.”

The scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family, Amarinder has been a former Congress heavyweight and two-time CM. While in the Congress, he used to be on the list of its star campaigners with a national appeal, canvassing for its candidates not only in Punjab but also other states,