Congress suspends MP Preneet Kaur

The Congress disciplinary committee on Friday suspended Preneet Kaur, Patiala Lok Sabha MP and wife of former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, and asked her to explain within three days why she should not be expelled for indulging in anti-party activities.

The Congress disciplinary committee on Friday suspended Preneet Kaur, Patiala Lok Sabha MP and wife of former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, and asked her to explain within three days why she should not be expelled for indulging in anti-party activities.

Congress MP Preneet Kaur. (PTI)

The party’s disciplinary panel member Tariq Anwar said the action was taken following complaints by Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Raja Warring and state leaders that Kaur was “helping” the BJP in the state.

Singh, who was ousted from the Congress in September 2021, had joined the BJP along with their daughter Jai Inder Kaur last year.

Despite repeated attempts, Kaur was not available for a comment.

In a statement, Anwar said: “The Congress president has received a complaint from Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, president of PCC Punjab, alleging that Preneet Kaur, MP (Lok Sabha) from Patiala, is indulging in anti-party activities to help the BJP. Some other senior Congress leaders of Punjab also share this view.”

Anwar added that the complaint was referred to the All India Congress Committee (AICC)’s disciplinary action committee for necessary action.

“The DAC carefully considered it and decided that Preneet Kaur should be suspended from the party with immediate effect and she has been called upon to show cause within three days as to why she should not be expelled from the party,” Anwar, who is also the AICC general secretary, said.

The state Congress welcomed the party’s decision. “It was the Congress which made Singh the chief minister twice and Kaur as an MP and Union minister. Still, they opposed the party. Party discipline is paramount for its success and whosoever will break it, needs to be shown the door,” Warring said.

It is not for the first time that Kaur was served a notice by the party. On November 24, 2021, two months after her husband was removed as chief minister, she was accused of indulging in anti-party activities.

The party had asked her to explain her stand, within seven days, on Singh’s exit from the Congress and her future course of action.

Kaur, however, did not respond to the notice and instead, campaigned for her husband who fought the polls as an ally of the BJP.

Kaur has been staying away from party activities since then. She did not attend the Punjab leg of the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in January.

Singh floated the Punjab Lok Congress in November 2021, in the run up to the assembly elections last year, and later merged it with the BJP.