Daughter pitches in for Preneet

Aman Sood 

Tribune News Service 

Patiala, May 13

Unmindful of rising mercury and shedding the royal tag, men and women folk from the royal family of Patiala have stepped out of the Moti Bagh palace into dusty lanes of the constituency to campaign for Congress candidate Preneet Kaur. 

Leading from the front is Preneet’s daughter Jai Inder Kaur, who is making sure that this Mother’s Day she works round-the-clock to ensure her victory. 

Jai Inder has been spearheading Preneet’s campaign in different areas to ensure her victory for the fourth time from Patiala, where she is facing stiff challenge from SAD’s Surjit Singh Rakhra and sitting MP, Dr Dharamvir Gandhi. 

Attired in traditional salwar suit and head covered with a ‘dupatta’, Jai Inder campaigns in villages and holds street meetings in the city areas. 

With Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, busy in own campaigning for the party, his daughter Jai Inder has been managing Preneet’s electioneering affairs in Patiala. Preneet’s son Raninder Singh is also busy scheduling and planning Congress electoral rallies across Punjab. 

“Jai Inder is always here for us. She has been managing political campaigns for her mother in every election,” says Raninder, who is busy planning for the upcoming rallies of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. 

Sharing a good rapport with local residents, Jai Inder meets close aides of her father and mother to seek day to day feedback of the electioneering process. Accompanied by her husband Gurpal Singh, Jai Inder usually holds seven to eight ward-wise rallies, besides holding door to door campaign and ‘nukar’ meetings exhorting people to vote for her mother with folded hands. 

“She takes all feedbacks everyday and is particular about it,” says KK Malhotra, the Patiala (Urban) Congress president. 

From daily schedules of campaigning in Patiala-I constituency to finalising meetings of her mother with senior Congress leaders of the area, Jai Inder takes all the decisions. 

“Our family has been serving people of the Patiala constituency for past many decades. I am here to ensure victory for my mother, who has played an important role in the development of the city,” said Jai Inder. 

Others who have been campaigning for Preneet Kaur are Capt Amarinder’s cousin Raja Randhir Singh, Raninder’s daughter Seher Inder Kaur, their relative Amarjung Singh and others. 

Meanwhile, the SAD candidate Surjit Singh Rakhra’s family is also not far behind. His two brothers are leaving no stone unturned for his victory. His millionaire elder brother Darshan Singh Dhaliwal, owner of Bulk Petroleum in the USA, meets party workers and tours villages whole day. 

Rakhra’s younger brother Charanjit Singh, who is his ‘Man Friday’, is known to be nurturing and backing his political assets. Sandeep Dhaliwal, daughter of NRI Charanjit Dhaliwal, is also keenly working to do her bit for her uncle’s political campaign. 

To ensure maximum participation of Sikhs in the US presidential elections in 2016, Sandeep played a crucial role by starting an organisation called “Sikhs Out to Vote” in the USA.