Raninder Singh

Background

He belongs to royal house of Patiala belonging to the Phulkian dynasty, and son of Amarinder Singh and Preneet Kaur.

Education

He attended Yadavindra Public School, Patiala and subsequently studied at The Doon School, Dehradun. Thereafter he spent one year at Saint Stephens College, New Delhi and graduated in business management from Buckingham University, United Kingdom in 1990.

Career

He has a sister Jai Inder Kaur. In 2005, he was appointed General Secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee(PCC) in 2005 and made in-charge of the Bathinda district. In the coming years, he worked in the region, and as a result he was credited for Congress winning the maximum seats in the Malwa region, in the State Assembly elections in India, 2007, while the party faced a rout in Majha and Doaba regions of Punjab.

He unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections against Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the wife of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in 2009 general elections, from Bathinda, in a high-profile run up to the elections.

He lost 2012 Punjab Assembly elections in 2012 from Samana constituency. He was appointed as the President of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) in December 2009.

Achievements

• He won from his nearest rival Shyam Singh Yadav by a landslide majority. He has been an accomplished international level trap shooter himself.

Politics

He started his political career in late 1990s, by assisting during the election campaigns of his father and mother Preneet Kaur, an Indian National Congress Member of Parliament from the Patiala Lok Sabha constituency, three times, 1999, 2004 and 2009. Subsequently joined the Youth Congress division of party himself.