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 a ...

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 terri ...

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 (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. Overall she is 8th female Chief Minister and 3rd female deputy chief minister in India. Since 1992 she has won from

Lehra Assembly Constituency Lehra Assembly constituency is a Punjab Legislative Assembly constituency in Sangrur district, Punjab state, India. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (INC), who was the first and only female Chief minister of Punjab. She won five consecutive times from L ...

five terms consecutively.

Early life

She was born on 30 September 1945 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

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

Changali Wala Changaliwala is a village in Sub division Lehragaga in Sangrur district in the state of Punjab. It is located 40 km to the south of District headquarters Sangrur, 149 km from State capital Chandigarh. Earlier the village was called K ...

Lehragaga Lehragaga is a town and a municipal council in Sangrur district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is near the border of Punjab and Haryana. Haryana is about 15 km from Lehragaga. It has a railway station. In lehragaga there are many schools, ...

Sangrur Sangrur is a city in Sangrur district of 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 s ...

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 planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

. 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. 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. On 9 April 2022, Amrinder Singh Raja Warri ...

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 Chaudhary (or Choudhary ; also: Chaudhuri, Choudhuary, Chowdhury) is a hereditary title mainly in South Asia, mainly used by Jats, Gurjar and Bhumihars. Chowdhury (Hindi: चौधरी/चौधुरी/चौधारी; Urdu: چودھری ...

. Her ousting, amid claims of misleading statements about the involvement of the Congress leadership, was followed by a protracted dispute with

Amarinder Singh Captain 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. A former Member of the Legislative Assembly, Punjab and Member ...

, 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 The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...

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

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi ('' née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independ ...

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 ( pa, ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ; born 8 December 1927) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He i ...

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 ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

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 People from Lahore Punjabi people Women chief ministers of Indian states Leaders of the Opposition in Punjab, India Chief ministers from Indian National Congress 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Deputy chief ministers of Punjab, India Women deputy chief ministers of Indian states Women members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly