Former Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, is likely to start his political journey as BJP’s candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar as per our sources. Sandhu officially retired from his post on January 31 and is hence eligible for the elections. According to experts, BJP is looking for a Sikh face to represent the party in Amritsar as the party. Along with a clean public image, being an ambassador means he has good relations with NRIs. He was honoured in America after his retirement, which is a testament to his reputed public image and relations with the NRIs.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu qualified civil services exam and joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1988. He was responsible for opening the Indian embassy in Ukraine and also worked there as head of the political and administration wings. He was the first secretary in Washington. He also worked as consul general in Frankfurt and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington D.C., and Consul General of India in Frankfurt. He has also served at the Ministry of External Affairs, India in different capacities. The ex-ambassador is a resident of Amritsar and is married to Reenat Sandhu, who was the Ambassador of India to Italy and is now Ambassador of India to The Netherlands. They have two children, a son and a daughter.
It is important to note that the Amritsar seat has been coveted seat for the BJP. Navjot Singh Sidhu had won the Lok Sabha seat in Amritsar 3 times in a row for BJP. But the BJP has been continuously losing the seat ever since his last victory. In 2014, BJP had fielded its strongest leader the then Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, but he lost to Congress's Captain Amarinder Singh. In 2019, the party once again fielded its powerful leader and Union Minister Hardeep Puri in the elections but he also faced defeat from Gurjit Aujla of Congress. The biggest reason behind BJP's defeat has been the leaders brought from outside as Jaitley and Puri had no direct connection with Punjab.
Which is why the BJP is likely looking for a local face. Sandhu is from Amritsar and upholds a reputed public image with good relations with the NRIs. BJP is also looking for a Sikh face to represent the party from Amritsar. They had contested the Amritsar East elections with Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer Jagmohan Singh Raju but had suffered defeat. But now they are possibly looking to play their cards with Taranjit Singh Sandhu.