Badal–Singh Engagement Brings Together Prominent Political Lineages of Punjab and Jammu Kashmir | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: Rhea Badal, daughter of BJP leader and former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, has been engaged to R K Martand Singh, grandson of senior Congress leader Karan Singh, marking the coming together of two prominent political families from Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

The engagement was announced by Martand Singh’s father, Vikramaditya Singh, through a Facebook post on Saturday. “By the grace of Mata Rani, we are delighted to announce the engagement of our son, R K Martand Singh, to Rhea Badal, daughter of Sardar and Sardarni Manpreet Singh Badal. Our love and blessings to them for a bright future ahead,” he wrote.

R K Martand Singh belongs to the erstwhile Dogra royal family. His grandfather, Karan Singh, is a senior Congress leader and the son of Maharaja Hari Singh, the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Martand Singh is a lawyer practising in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court.

His father, Vikramaditya Singh, is a descendant of the Dogra dynasty and has had a varied political career. A former member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council, he joined the People’s Democratic Party in 2015. Still, he resigned in 2017 over the issue of declaring a public holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh. He later joined the Congress, contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Udhampur, and subsequently resigned from the party in 2022, stating that it was unable to reflect the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He is currently not affiliated with any political party. Vikramaditya Singh is also a hotelier and serves as the managing director of the heritage Taragarh Palace Hotel in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.

Rhea Badal’s father, Manpreet Singh Badal, is a former two-time finance minister of Punjab and the nephew of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. He began his political career with the Shiromani Akali Dal, serving as finance minister during the SAD–BJP government from 2007 to 2011. He then floated the People’s Party of Punjab in 2011, merged it with the Congress in 2014, and subsequently served as Punjab’s finance minister from 2017 to 2022. He joined the BJP in January 2023. Rhea Badal has graduated in media, culture, and communication from New York University.

The engagement also adds another political link between the two regions, as Vikramaditya Singh’s daughter, Mriganka, is married to Nirvan Singh, the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.