Subhechcha Ganguly 
Amarinder Singh, a former chief minister of Punjab, a veteran of the army, and an heir to the Patiala Royal family, joined the BJP today along with his son and daughter. This comes nearly a year after Singh left the Congress after quitting his position as chief minister abruptly just before the Punjab assembly elections. Kiren Rijiju, the union law minister, welcomed him to the BJP. He had a meeting with BJP leader JP Nadda earlier in the day. Singh merged his Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the BJP after joining the party.
Days after Singh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah met in Delhi, the development occurred. Along with the Captain, former Mehal Kalan MLA Harchand Kaur, former Garshankar MLA Love Kumar Goldy, former Ludhiana MP Amrik Singh Ahliwal, former MLA Harjinder Singh Thekedar, former Mansa MLA Prem Mittal, and former deputy chief speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti joined the BJP. Bhatti served as an MLA twice, once from the Bhucho and once from the Malout constituencies.
In contrast to Bhatti and Harchand Kaur, who were expelled by the Congress for engaging in anti-party activities, Goldy, Thekedar, and Mittal had already joined the PLC. The Captain’s wife Praneet Kaur, a Patiala-based Congress MP, was not present at the media briefing, but both his son Raninder Singh and his daughter Jai Inder Kaur joined the BJP.Singh reported that his meeting with Shah on September 12 resulted in a very fruitful discussion about a range of topics, including the rising incidence of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the state’s future development strategy.
