Preneet Kaur (born 3 October 1944) is an Indian politician who served in the Government of India as a Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2014. She is married to Amarinder Singh, who was the 15th Chief Minister of Punjab. She joined the Congress party, to which her husband also belonged once, and contested parliamentary elections repeatedly from the Patiala constituency. In February 2023, she was suspended from party for supporting BJP leader and her husband Amarinder Singh. She won the elections of 1999, 2004 and 2009, but lost her seat in the elections of 2014 and made a comeback by winning again in 2019.
Background and personal life
Praneet Kaur was born in Shimla, India into a Kahlon Jat Sikh family. She is the daughter of Sardar Gian Singh Kahlon, an officer in the Indian Civil Service, and Satinder Kaur. Gian Singh Kahlon entered the Indian Civil Service in 1937, when it was extremely rare for an Indian to be granted entry into that elite administrative service. He served in many senior positions, including as Chief Secretary of Punjab in the 1960s. He died in December 2002. Preneet Kaur has one brother, Himmat Singh Kahlon, who works for the UNO, and one sister, Geetinder Kaur, who is married to the politician and former IPS officer Simranjit Singh Mann. Praneet Kaur attended St. Bede's College, Shimla and graduated from The Convent of Jesus and Mary, Shimla.
In October 1964, Praneet Kaur was married to Capt. Amarinder Singh in a match arranged by parents in the usual Indian tradition. Her husband was the son and heir of the titular Maharaja of Patiala, formerly the ruler of the largest princely state in Punjab. Amarinder Singh, who was serving as an officer in the Indian Army at the time of the wedding, succeeded his father as titular Maharaja of Patiala in 1974, whereupon Praneet Kaur became the Maharani of Patiala. After resigning from the army, Amarinder Singh followed in the footsteps of his father and entered politics, where he met with great success. He was elected to parliament from the Patiala constituency in 1980, and to the Punjab state legislative assembly in 1985, 1992 and 2002, serving as minister in the state government for many years. In 2002, he took office as Chief Minister of Punjab for the first time and served a full five-year term until 2007. In March 2017, he again led the Congress party to victory in the state assembly elections and took office again as Chief Minister of Punjab for the second time, and held the position until 18 September 2021.
Praneet Kaur and Amarinder Singh are the parents of two children, a son Raninder Singh (born 1967) and one daughter Jai Inder Kaur (born 1966). Raninder Singh is a politician who has contested elections both to parliament and to the state legislative assembly. He is married to Rishma Kaur, daughter of a businessman, Kuldip Singh Dhingra, owner of Berger Paints India Limited, and his wife Meeta Dhingra. Raninder and Rishma are the parents of three children, a son, Yaduinder Singh (born April 2003) and two daughters namely Seherinder Kaur (b.1996) and Inayatinder Kaur (b.1999). Yaduinder, who is the youngest of Praneet's five grandchildren, is in line to become the titular Maharaja of Patiala in due course.