26062024-TTC-01.qxd 6/26/2024 12:24 AM Page 1 13 JULIAN ASSANGE FREED FROM PRISON WORLD /thetribunechd CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 176 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 wednesday | 26 june 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com No consensus on Speaker, it’s NDA’s Birla vs Oppn’s Suresh Rare contest today as BJP rejects INDIA’s Dy Speaker post demand Aditi Tandon After INDIA meet, Cong names Rahul as LoP inLokSabha Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 25 For the first time in 48 years, the Lok Sabha will on Wednesday witness election for the post of Speaker after the opposition INDIA bloc fielded eight-term Congress MP K Suresh as a joint candidate against the ruling NDA’s Om Birla. Birla and Suresh on Tuesday filed their nomination after the government and the Opposition failed to reach a consensus for the post. This, after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav publicly said they would support Birla if the Deputy Speaker’s post, as per convention, was ceded to them. NDA leaders engaged with the Opposition made it clear that consensus on the constitutional post of the Speaker could not be conditional or a Om Birla K Suresh WILL BE THIRD SUCH POLL IN LS HISTORY First election for Speaker was held in 1952 when Cong fielded GV Mavalankar. In 1976, Cong’s BR Bhagat faced a contest. In both cases, the ruling party had won. This will be the third such election. matter of quid pro quo. Suresh versus Birla will be the third election for the LS Speaker’s post in the history of independent India. The first occasion arose in 1952 when the Congress fielded GV Mavalankar and the second in 1976 when Congress candi- date Bali Ram Bhagat faced a contest. In both cases, the ruling party’s nominee had won. Birla too has the numbers, with the government today managing the support of the YSRCP a development , that took NDA numbers to continued on page 8 PM, Putin likely to ink ‘vision paper’; to discuss regional ties JYOTI MALHOTRA IN MOSCOW P RIME Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely sign a “vision document” that spells out a roadmap for India and Russia in the decades to come, when the PM arrives in the Russian capital for a day-long visit on July 8. In an exclusive interview with The Tribune in his office in the Russian ministry of foreign affairs in Moscow, Russian point person for South Asia Zamir Kabulov said, “Russia is looking forward to welcoming (your) Prime Min- ister. We believe it will be a very important meeting between the two leaders.” On the margins of the Primakov Readings, a summit of ideas and intellectuals organised by Russia’s prestigious Primakov Institute of Global Economy & International Relations in Moscow, its president Alexander Dynkin said, “It is significant that India’s Prime Minister is choosing Russia for his first (bilateral) visit abroad after he was elected the PM for the third time.” Certainly, Modi’s visit to Moscow will be watched keenly by the US, whose National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was in Delhi for talks less than a fortnight ago, for signals as to how far India is leaning towards Russia. But even the Americans understand the pragmatic reality on the ground, which continued on page 8 New Delhi, June 25 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and a letter about the decision has been sent to Pro tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab. The decision on Rahul’s appointment as the Leader of Opposition was made after a meeting of the floor leaders of the INDIA bloc at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence. The Congress, being the single largest opposition party, has got the post after a gap of 10 years. “Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson (Sonia Gandhi) wrote to Protem Speaker, informing him of the decision,” party leader KC Venugopal said after the alliance meeting. INSIDE Monsoon may hit region in 3-4 days CHANDIGARH: The weatherman has said conditions are likely to become favourable for further advance of the monsoon into some parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and northern parts of Punjab and Haryana in the next three to four days. — TNS Porsche crash: HC ordersboy’srelease MUMBAI: The Bombay HC has ordered the release of a 17-yearold boy allegedly involved in the Porsche car mishap in Pune last month from an observation home. The police claim he was drunk and driving the car when it hit a twowheeler, killing two. — PTI Perverse: HC stays trial Rebellion in SAD, leaders court’s bail to Kejriwal ask Sukhbir to step down Satya Prakash AAP TO MOVE SC Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 25 The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the bail granted to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by a city court in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy scam, terming it “perverse”. “A perusal of the impugned order reflects that the Vacation Judge has passed it without going through and appreciating the entire material brought on record by the rival parties…,” Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said in his 34page order. “The ED submitted a writ- AAP said it would challenge the Delhi High Court decision to stay the bail granted to Kejriwal in the Supreme Court. ten note in the special court/Vacation Judge concerned in support of the argument wherein the petitioner has raised various points as detailed therein for consideration but the Vacation Judge has not considered the said points/issues,” Justice Jain noted. Justice continued on page 8 Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar/Chandigarh, June 25 Amid growing unrest within the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) over party’s drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha elections, as many as 60 prominent leaders have raised a banner of revolt against party chief Sukhbir Badal asking him to step down. Even as the rebels today held a meeting in Jalandhar, Sukhbir led a parallel meeting of 96 SAD halqa chiefs in Chandigarh and released a video showing their support in his favour. The meeting in Jalandhar lasted for over five hours. Pass resolution; party chief calls it BJP plot to divide Akalis Prominent among those present were Prem Singh Chandumajra, Sikandar Singh Maluka, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Surjit Singh Rakhra, Sarwan Singh Phillaur and Bibi Jagir Kaur. This was the second meeting of the rebel leaders. The first was held three days ago, with a relatively thin attendance, at Paragpur village in Jalandhar. The leaders said they had continued on page 8 THE TRIBUNE INTERVIEW: SUNIL JAKHAR, PUNJAB BJP CHIEF ‘Akali Dal, with or without Sukhbir, is safety valve for Punjab against threat of radicalism’ Jupinderjit Singh and Rajmeet Singh Tribune News Service Sunil Jakhar Chandigarh, June 25 A few hours before an open rebellion broke out in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, in an interview with The Tribune, said the SAD, with or without Sukhbir Singh Badal, was a safety valve for Punjab against the rising threat of radicalism. PM: EMERGENCY MINDSET ALIVE IN CONG BACK PAGE ❝ Radicalisation is more dangerous than polarisation. Both the Centre, state made mistakes on farmers’ issues. Speaking on The Tribune’s ‘Decode Punjab’ show, Jakhar, who has been a votary of a BJP-SAD re-alliance, said he did not know whether both parties would come together again. “The Akali Dal is not just another regional party. I am of the view even today that a strong Akali Dal is a representative political body of Akal Takht and the Panth,” he said. Jakhar’s assertions came hours before 60 senior Akali leaders rebelled against Sukhbir in Jalandhar. Later in the evening, Sukhbir and party spokesperson Daljeet Singh Cheema said the BJP had conspired to break the continued on page 8 c m y b