‘My mother will contest from Patiala. She will soon join BJP. My turn will come in 2-3 years’: Amarinder Singh’s daughter

Punjab BJP leader Jai Inder Kaur (57), daughter of two-time Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and four-time Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, is set to play a pivotal role for the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. A royal family scion, she started her political innings after joining the BJP in September 2022 along with her father, after his unceremonious removal from the CM’s post and bitter exit from the Congress in 2021. Jai Inder is now the state BJP’s Mahila Morcha president and the only woman in the recently announced 19-member state election committee.

Excerpts from an interview with The Indian Express:

Q) Why wait till your late 50s to join politics, when your parents were in the Congress for decades?

I have been helping both my parents in their election campaigns since 1998, but I was never a member of the Congress. When my father became the Punjab CM in 2017, I expressed my wish to help him fulfill the promises we had made to the people of our hometown — Patiala. Though I was never involved in politics or his official work, I worked in Patiala to ensure that promises made during my father’s tenure were fulfilled. That’s when I realised that a lot needs to be done, and got vigorously involved in public works with my parents. After leaving the Congress, when my father floated his own party, the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC), I campaigned for him during the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls. I only decided to take the plunge later that year, when my father joined the BJP, so that I could contribute to public welfare in any way I could. Before that, I never had so much time to devote to politics due to family commitments.

Q) How do you look back at the Congress removal of your father Amarinder as Punjab CM?

It hurt us a lot.