Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (born 30 September 1945) is an Indian politician and member of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

who served as the 14th

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

of Punjab from 1996 to 1997 and 2nd

Deputy Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

of Punjab from 2004 to 2007. She is the first and so far only female to hold the office of Chief Minister in

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. Overall she is 8th female Chief Minister and first female deputy chief minister in India. Since 1992 she has won from Lehra Assembly Constituency five terms consecutively.

Early life

She was born on 30 September 1945 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

to Hira Singh Bhattal and Harnam Kaur. She was married to Lal Singh Sidhu at village Changali Wala,

Lehragaga Lehragaga is a town, municipal council, railway station, community development block, district sub-division and vidhan sabha constituency in Sangrur district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Punjab (India), Punjab near the ...

Sangrur Sangrur is a city in the Indian state of Punjab, India. It is the headquarters of Sangrur District. Geography Sangrur is located at . It has an average elevation of 237 metres (778 feet). Climate Health services City has PGIM ...

district and had two children, a girl and a boy.

Political career

In 1994, Bhattal was a state education minister in

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

. Bhattal became the first female Chief Minister of

when she took office after the resignation of

Harcharan Singh Brar Harcharan Singh Brar (21 January 1922 – 6 September 2009) was an Indian politician belonging to the Punjab unit of Indian National Congress. He was the 13th Chief Minister of Punjab and held this position from 31 August 1995 to 21 Novembe ...

, serving from November 1996 to February 1997, the eighth female Chief Minister in Indian history. Before she became the chief minister, she also served as deputy chief minister for a short period of time under

's cabinet. Her initiatives as Chief Minister of Punjab included, in December 1996, a scheme to provide grants of free electricity to small farmers in order to power wells. After the Congress party lost the February 1997 assembly elections in

, bringing an end to her term as Chief Minister, Bhattal took over as president of the

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (or Punjab PCC), formerly known as the Punjab Provincial Congress Committee in colonial India, is the affiliate of the Indian National Congress in the state of Punjab. It is responsible for organizing and coord ...

from Singh Randhawa in May, and then as leader of the Congress Legislature Party until October 1998, when she was ousted from her position and replaced by Chaudhary Jagjit Singh. Her ousting, amid claims of misleading statements about the involvement of the Congress leadership, was followed by a protracted dispute with

Amarinder Singh Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942) is an Indian politician, military historian, former royal and Indian Army veteran who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Punjab. His father, Yadavindra Singh, was the last Maharaja of the princely st ...

, who had succeeded her as Punjab Congress president, and who was seen as responsible for her removal. By 2003, Bhattal had publicly pledged to remove Singh from his position as Chief Minister and was backed by dozens of dissident

MLAs A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nationa ...

from the Congress party. The dispute saw intervention from the central command of the Congress party in New Delhi, with

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...

taking a hand in negotiations. Initially the dissident group led by Bhattal rejected any solution other than the removal of Singh. In January 2004, Bhattal accepted a position as deputy chief minister of Punjab, with other dissidents also taking roles in the cabinet, in a bid to heal the divisions. Denying that the dissidents had made demands in order to gain these concessions, Bhattal said that she had accepted the post because Sonia Gandhi had asked her to do so. In March 2007, Bhattal became leader of the Congress Legislature Party in Punjab Vidhan Sabha. The dispute rumbled on, however, and in April 2008 the party high command once again had to intervene, this time asking both Singh and Bhattal to cease speaking to the media about their disagreements. During this period, Bhattal also saw off attempted prosecutions, with a court acquitting her of corruption charges in April 2008. Continuing as Punjab Congress leader, she also took credit for successfully pressuring the administration of

Parkash Singh Badal Parkash Singh Badal (8 December 1927 – 25 April 2023) was an Indian politician and Sikh rights advocate who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Punjab from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017, the longes ...

to introduce a debt waiver scheme for farmers. As of June 2011, Bhattal remains the Punjab Congress Legislature Party leader. She was one of the 42 INC MLAs who submitted their resignation in protest of a decision of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

ruling Punjab's termination of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) water canal unconstitutional.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattal, Rajinder Kaur Living people Chief ministers of Punjab, India Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India Punjab, India MLAs 1992–1997 1945 births Politicians from Lahore Women chief ministers of Indian states Leaders of the opposition in Punjab, India Chief ministers from Indian National Congress 20th-century Indian women politicians Deputy chief ministers of Punjab, India Women deputy chief ministers of Indian states Women members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly Presidents of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee 21st-century Indian women politicians