Chandigarh: Among all the major princely states of Punjab, Patiala royalty, which was richest as well as the most influential, was the only one to enter politics after independence. The city that Sidhu clan chieftain Ala Singh founded in 1763 always supported its royals after they decided to drift into electoral politics in the 1960s.Their dynasty was set up by Baba Phul Singh in Jaisalmer in the late 16th century, before they moved to Bathinda in Punjab and then finally settled in Patiala.Captain Amarinder Singh, still carrying his family’s royal as well as political legacy, has again filed his nomination from the Patiala (Urban) constituency for the February 20 polls. Last time, when he contested here as the Congress’s chief ministerial candidate, he won the constituency hands down.Now the two-time chief minister is at a crossroads in his 50-year political career, which began right here in 1970. After his unceremonious exit from the Congress last November, he formed his own political party, the Punjab Lok Congress, that now is hell bent on defeating the Congress in alliance with the BJP.It is therefore not surprising he chose the constituency he had full faith in. Amarinder won four consecutive terms from here between 2002 and 2017, and is now trying his luck for another term.The princely state of Patiala no longer exists, and even titles had been abolished in 1971, but in the local public, and even in the media, Amarinder is still referred to as the ‘Maharaja of Patiala’.Also read: Punjab Polls: As Congress Likely to Name Channi as CM Face, Governor, ED Take AimHe is also the longest surviving dynast. Most rulers of Patiala died in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Only Baba Ala Singh, the city’s founder on whose name Patiala was named too, lived for 74 years. Amarinder, now 79, still has the energy to fight another battle, even though his rivals including his former Congress colleagues have discredited him for surrendering governance in his second tenure as chief minister.Congress removed him from the chief minister’s post last September, after internal revolt against him for the lack of action on sacrilege and drug issues, two major planks that helped him win the 2017 elections.He was also accused of his failure to break the sand mafia and liquor nexus. While he said in one of his recent interviews that it was his mistake not to act on his ministers and MLAs involved in illegal sand mining, Amarinder in a statement released after filing the nomination in Patiala claimed that his government had fought hard, right up to the Supreme Court, to get the sacrilege cases back from the CBI, leading to 19 officers, including ex-DGP Sumedh Saini, being booked.As for the drug cases, he declared that it was his government that successfully broke the backbone of the drug mafia, leading to the arrest of more than 40,000, including many big fish. “But it would be naïve to believe that drugs can be completely wiped out anywhere in the world, and more so in a border state like Punjab where Pakistan was pushing in drugs almost every day,” he added.Announcing that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah will be coming to Punjab soon to campaign for the PLC-BJP-SAD Sanyukt coalition, Captain Amarinder said the alliance had been crafted in the interest of Punjab and the country.“The state, with its economy in total shambles, was at a crossroads and needed the Centre’s support to go ahead,” he stressed, adding that Punjab added debt of Rs 70,000 crore in his 4.5-year tenure as chief minister, while Charanjit Singh Channi added another Rs 33,000 crore in just 111 days.Captain’s political journeyAmarinder’s parents, who had close ties with the Congress, were the first to enter politics from the family. Mohinder Kaur, Amarinder’s mother, was first nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.Then his father, Yadavindra Singh, drifted into electoral politics when he fought the Punjab assembly polls in 1967 from Dakala, a small town adjacent to Patiala that also housed their family house Moti Bagh. In the same year, his mother too was elected MP from the Patiala parliamentary constituency in the 1967 general elections.Yadavindra, however, did not think politics was his cup of tea and left for the Netherlands as ambassador while Amarinder, who was then a commissioned officer in the Indian Army, left the job in 1968 and stepped into his father’s shoes. He fought his first election unsuccessfully from his father’s old constituency, Dakala, in the 1970 assembly by-poll after then MLA Basant Singh of the Swatantra Party was gunned down by Naxals.Also read: BJP Fields Two National Panel Chiefs in Punjab Despite State Law Disallowing itHe stayed away for some time then, before he fought the 1977 general elections on a Congress ticket from the Patiala parliamentary seat that his mother occupied earlier, but lost to Akali stalwart Gurcharan Singh Tohra.Amarinder’s first taste of victory came from the Patiala parliamentary seat in the 1980 general election and that was the beginning of his serious political career. In the next two decades, before he became chief minister for the first time in 2002, there were a lot of ups and downs in his career, including leaving the Congress in protest over Operation Blue Star in 1984 and then becoming MLA on a SAD ticket from Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district.Later, he was agriculture minister in the Surjit Singh Barala-led Akali government in 1986, but then too resigned on moral grounds after the Barnala government’s controversy over sending the police to the Golden Temple complex.After some time, he formed his own party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) and won three seats in the 1992 assembly polls including his own in Samana near Patiala that went uncontested as the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD did not fight these elections.Later, Amarinder merged his party with the Badals but he fell out with the Akali Dal and rejoined the Congress after Badal denied him a ticket in the 1997 assembly elections.Once he became state Congress chief in 1999, he began focusing on the Patiala constituency, which after delimitation had extended till Dakala that his father once held.Under his command, the Congress won the assembly polls in 2002 and this was how he became chief minister. In his first term, he made life miserable for the Badal family after opening several vigilance inquiries against them. He rose to prominence after he revoked the water-sharing agreement with neighbouring Haryana.That is why he got anti-Badal votes and gave Congress another election victory in the 2017 polls, when the Badals became unpopular for a number of reasons after their 10-year rule.But he is back to his old uncertain days in politics, except that he has tied up with a national party this time and hopes to stay relevant after the 2022 polls.No heavyweight in fray against himIn 2017, Amarinder won from Patiala by a record margin of 52,000 votes. In a city where he and his family still wield influence, there is no heavyweight in fray against him this time.Another advantage Amarinder has here is that the city has a sizeable Hindu population. After an alliance with BJP, he hopes to get considerable support from his alliance partner’s voter base.His rivals, however, are targeting Amarinder for his failure as Punjab chief minister. In order to cut the Hindu votes, both Akali Dal and Congress have fielded Hindu faces.SAD’s candidate is young Harpal Juneja, a first-timer. His father Bhagwan Dass Juneja had earlier lost Patiala to Amarinder’s wife Preneet Kaur in the parliamentary election.Also read: In Punjab Elections, the Sidhu Versus Majithia Clash Promises to Be IntenseOn the other hand, Congress has fielded Vishu Sharma, former mayor of Patiala. Sharma had quit Congress due to differences with Amarinder but he rejoined the party after the former chief minister’s exit.AAP has fielded former Akali leader Ajit Pal Kohli, who recently defected to the party.Waterlogging is among the major issues in this constituency. But Amarinder claimed that several new projects began under his tenure. For instance, a new bus stand is under construction.He recently criticised Channi government after media reports highlighted that several projects that he started in his tenure including setting up a heritage street, multi-crore canal-based water supply project, rejuvenation of seasonal Chhoti Nadi and Badi Nadi, dairy shifting project and renovation of Rajindra Lake have been stuck after his exit from the Congress. He promised to ensure their completion at the earliest if voted in again.