January 1997: Capt Amarinder Singh invites SAD leaders Parkash Singh Badal and Gurcharan Singh Tohra to Patiala’s Motibagh Palace for breakfast, to sound them out for an assembly ticket. They make polite noises of demurral and depart, leaving the captain hurt but determined to avenge the slight. On that day, the erstwhile Maharaja of Patiala swore he would rule Punjab one day.