To write off Captain Amarinder Singh as a lightweight in this election would be to ignore history.
"Neither tired, nor retired" - Amarinder Singh had asserted when he wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on November 2, resigning from the party after a bitter feud forced him to step down as Chief Minister. There is still politics left in him, the 79-year-old politician made it clear.
For the three-time Chief Minister, there is a sea of difference between this election and the last. In 2017, he was the heavyweight Congress general who led the party to a thumping win, tiding over the wave of support for Narendra Modi a year after the BJP stormed to power at the centre. This time, he is a much smaller player at the helm of a three-month-old party that hopes to upset the arithmetic in a high-stakes election.
Mr Singh was born in Patiala to Yadavindra Singh, the last ruling Maharaja of Patiala, and Maharani Mohinder Kaur. He studied at the elite Lawrence School and Doon School.
Known for his flamboyance, he cooked a feast for India's Olympic heroes and performed the role of host-chef to the tee. Just days later, he stepped down as Chief Minister.
Owing to his royal background, Mr Singh received consistent support from Patiala voters but it also exposed him to rivals' sneers who claimed that the "Maharaja" is unavailable to the common man.
A key criticism of Mr Singh during his last tenure as Chief Minister was his perceived inaccessibility. In a state that has seen Chief Ministers of the likes of Parkash Singh Badal and Beant Singh hold interactions with the public, Mr Singh's way of running the government from his farmhouse through bureaucrats is said to have made him unpopular. It is also the reason he was oblivious to his diminishing hold on the Congress in Punjab.
As resentment in the party grew, the Congress leadership moved swiftly, effecting what Mr Singh termed a "midnight conspiracy" against him.
In his resignation letter, Mr Singh lamented that he felt "deeply hurt" by the conduct of Mrs Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra "who I still deeply love as much as my own children, having known their father, since we were in school...".
Ironically, during his time in the Congress, the veteran had consistently backed the Gandhi siblings for Congress's leadership. After Rahul Gandhi stepped down as party president, he had said Ms Vadra has the intelligence, instinct and courage to lead the party.
Mr Singh, aka "Captain", has now tied up with the BJP, hoping to benefit from its resources and election machinery as he tries to stay afloat in Punjab's political waters. The BJP, on its part, hopes to gain from Mr Singh's stature as it tries to reverse the massive setback it faced on the now withdrawn farm laws.
With the farmer protest forcing the centre to repeal the three contentious farm laws, the BJP's Punjab hopes hinge on the former royal. At the same time, the BJP wants to be the big brother in the alliance - a spot it could never get during its decades old partnership with Shiromani Akali Dal.
The tie-up has also been helped by the fact that Mr Singh's stand on issues relating to national security, which led him to slam arch rival Navjot Singh Sidhu for his bonhomie with Pakistan leaders, is closely aligned with the BJP's nationalist agenda.
The Captain - as he is popularly known for his stint in the Army - now faces an election far tougher than his last.
The Congress leadership is leaving no stone unturned to put up a united front in a desperate bid to retain Punjab. Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is going all out to project himself as a people's Chief Minister to play on the contrast with the inaccessible Mr Singh.
Also in the contest is the Aam Aadmi Party, which has sensed an opportunity in the Congress's infighting and is pushing hard to project itself as the alternative. Not to be left behind, the Akali Dal has joined forces with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and is fielding new faces as candidates.
To write off the Captain as a lightweight in this election would be to ignore history.
From losing his deposit in the 1998 assembly election after getting just 856 votes, to becoming Chief Minister twice and beating BJP veteran Arun Jaitley by over 1 lakh votes in the 2014 polls, the Captain has quite a few comebacks to his name. Despite his perceived failure to fulfil promises on which the Congress rode to victory last time, he is still among the tallest leaders in Punjab. But this time around, the Captain faces one of his most challenging missions.