25042026-TTC-01.qxd 4/25/2026 12:31 AM Page 1 c m y b 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 10 NO. 113 | 22 PAGES | ~7.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 OPPN MOVES FRESH NOTICE FOR CEC’S REMOVAL NATION /thetribunechd ‘HERO OF HILL KAKA’ TAHIR FAZAL HUSSAIN PASSES AWAY J&K GINNY WEDSS SUNNY 2: HEART IN RIGHT PLACE, PLOT FALTERS REVIEW BARRIER-FREE TOLL ON NHS FROM DECEMBER: GADKARI BUSINESS saturday | 25 april 2026 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Punjab RS MP along with Ashok Mittal & SandeepPathakinductedbyBJPchiefNabin MPs Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney, Maliwal also quit AAP AAPto seek their disqualification from RS, RBI scraps Paytm saysBJPused‘OpLotus’toundermineparty Bank’s licence over AAPocalypse: Raghav-led 7 MPs switch to BJP Mann calls defecting MPs ‘gaddars’ dares , ED to raid his house Aditi Tandon & Rahul Gahlawat Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 24 In a move with far-reaching consequences for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha members quit on Friday and merged the AAP legislature party in the Upper House with the BJP . These MPs — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal, Vikramjit Sahney and Rajinder Gupta — defected as a bloc, evading disqualification from the Rajya Sabha under provisions of the Constitution’s anti-defection law, which allows a merger provided not less than a two-thirds of the members of the legislature party agree to the move. Flanked by Pathak and Mittal in Delhi, Raghav announced the decision of seven AAP MPs quitting and merging the legislature party in the RS with the BJP . Minutes after the announcement, they visited the BJP national headquarters and were welcomed to the saffron fold by national president Nitin Nabin and general secretaries Tarun Chugh and Arun Singh. “Welcomed Raghav Chadha ji, Sandeep Pathak ji and Ashok Mittal ji to the BJP family at the party HQ today. Also, best wishes to Harbhajan Singh ji, Swati Maliwal ji, Vikram Sahney ji and Rajinder Gupta ji to work under the dynamic leadership of PM Narendra Modi towards the goal of Viksit Bharat-2047,” Nitin Nabin said on X after the formal merger, which comes ahead of the 2027 Punjab polls. Raghav, recently removed by AAP as the deputy leader of the party in the RS, earlier continued on page 6 Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service BJP chief Nitin Nabin welcomes AAP Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak into party in New Delhi on Friday. ANI Swati Maliwal Rajinder Gupta Vikramjit Sahney Harbhajan Singh PARTY STRAYED FROM ITS PRINCIPLES, VALUES ❝ The AAP that I nurtured with my blood and sweat and to which I gave 15 years of my youth has completely strayed from its principles, values and core morals. Raghav Chadha, RS MP SIX OF SEVEN MPs FROM PUNJAB, 1 DELHI AAP LEADERSHIP’S FAULT, SAYS HAZARE Of the seven MPs, six — Raghav, Pathak, Mittal, Gupta, Sahney and Harbhajan — come from Punjab, while Maliwal is from Delhi. Three MPs who are still with AAP are Sanjay Singh, ND Gupta and Balbir Singh Seechewal. Social activist Anna Hazare said the seven MPs wouldn’t have quit the party had it followed the “right” path. “They must have faced some trouble, which is why they left… It is their (AAP leadership’s) fault,” he said. WHAT ANTI-DEFECTION LAW STATES Members shall not be disqualified if their “original political party” merges with another party, and they choose to join the new party or a group formed by the merger. Crucially, a merger is deemed to have taken place if not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party agree to it. Behind AAP defections, Amit Shah’s ‘Mission Punjab’; more exits likely THE TRIBUNE ANALYSIS Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 24 Friday’s defections by top Rajya Sabha leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party signal the BJP’s early forays into the 2027 Punjab election scene and the saffron party’s calibrated plans to get a quick foothold in an electorally barren land. Till today, the BJP had two MLAs in the Punjab Assembly. From today, it will have two MLAs in the state and six members from Punjab in the Rajya Sabha. Led by Raghav Chadha, the move was executed with precision and the element of surprise laced it. No one saw the defections coming and AAP leaders had no whiff of the timing, with Manish Sisodia, Punjab AAP in-charge, in Gujarat today. Saffron party sources see a clear hand of BJP chief poll strategist Amit Shah in Friday’s developments. Ever since Shah sounded the poll bugle in Punjab, with a rally in Moga’s Killi Chahlan village on March 14, plans are in place on how to move ahead in the state. A team of leaders has been identified to engage Punjab leaders and influencers and expand the saffron footprint and acceptance in the border state, which Shah as Union Home Minister considers extremely important from the continued on page 6 Chandigarh, April 24 Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday dubbed AAP’s Rajya Sabha members who quit the party and joined the BJP as “gaddars” (traitors). Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference here, Mann claimed the BJP having , “no base of its own in Punjab, was resorting to manipulations and intimidation through central agencies to buy leaders”. “The BJP has repeatedly faced rejection in Punjab and is now attempting to weaken a corruption-free government through intimidation, inducements and efforts to engineer defections,” he said. Mann, who cut short his visit to the Netherlands and Finland to woo investors after getting a whiff of the defections, said the BJP’s unease had been evident ever since the strict anti-sacrilege law was enacted. AAP chief spokesperson Baltej Pannu and Lok Sabha MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer pre-empted the BJP’s announcement, breaking the news of the defections well before Raghav and other rebel leaders could. They accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of backing the Raghav-led conspiracy. Pannu claimed Raghav was the “BJP’s tool and was asked to lure Rajya Sabha MPs into the saffron party”. “He has been promised a ministerial berth for this service,” he said. Citing Congress leaders who violation of norms NEW DELHI: The RBI on Friday announced the cancellation of banking licence issued to Paytm Payments Bank for non-compliance with norms, saying the affairs of the bank were conducted in a manner detrimental to the interest of its depositors. The RBI will seek winding up of the bank before the high court. The bank, part of Vijay Shekhar Sharma-promoted Paytm, came under the regulatory scanner on multiple occasions earlier. INSIDE Will challenge govt move to halt series on Lawrence: Zee5 Bhagwant Mann BETRAYAL WITH PUNJAB The BJP has once again betrayed Punjabis. Arvind Kejriwal, AAP CONVENER had joined the BJP the CM , said while central agencies had stopped probing their cases, “politically, all of them were losers”. “Eh tan sarpanch de election nahin jitt sakde (they can’t even win a panchayat poll)… they were made MPs because AAP considered them assets to society… people never elected them,” he said. “The BJP and the defecting MPs have betrayed Punjab. Punjabis will give them a befitting reply, just as they did to Sukhpal Khaira, Kanwar Sandhu, Jagdev Kamalu, Pirmal Singh and Nazar Mansahia, who rebelled against AAP in 2018,” he said. Mann alleged that after failing to find anything against him or his government, the BJP had “resorted to using the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax continued on page 6 NEW DELHI: Streaming platform Zee5 on Friday told the Delhi High Court that the Centre had asked it not to go ahead with the release of a docuseries on gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, scheduled to air on April 27. It, however, said it would challenge the advisory restraining the release of “Lawrence of Punjab”. The court was hearing a plea by Bishnoi seeking to stop the documentary, claiming it affects his rights. INSIDE SC to hear Sajjan’s appeal against conviction in July DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up former Delhi Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s petition challenging his conviction in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in July after it was told that the convict had already spent more than seven years in jail. Kumar (80) has been in jail since December 31, 2018, when he surrendered after being awarded life imprisonment by the Delhi HC in a case relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots. INSIDE NEW Trump to send Witkoff, After 560 days atop 400-ft tower, Khalsa HearSIRdeletion cases Kushner for talks as climbs down as anti-sacrilege law enacted urgently:SCtotribunals 65 on Bengal poll duty Araghchi reaches Pak among appellants Satya Prakash Kulwinder Sandhu Ujwal Jalali Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 24 The US and Iran are poised to hold a second round of talks in Islamabad, likely on Sunday, signalling a tentative revival of engagement even as internal divisions in Tehran cast a shadow over prospects of a breakthrough. Confirming the development, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Yes, I can confirm, special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be off to Pakistan again tomorrow morning to engage in talks. The Iranians reached out, as the President called on them to do, and asked for this inperson conversation. We’re hopeful that it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward towards a deal.” As per US media reports, Vice-President JD Vance is not currently expected to attend but remains on standby to travel to Islamabad should negotiations show progress. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has already reached Pakistan as part of a three-nation tour that also includes Muscat and Abbas Araghchi Moscow, underscoring Tehran’s calibrated diplomatic outreach at a time of heightened regional tensions. While the planned engagement points to renewed diplomatic movement, sources indicate the process remains cautious, with Pakistan expected to facilitate exchanges in what is likely to be a tightly managed format. Araghchi, announcing his tour earlier, said the outreach was aimed at “closely coordinating with partners on bilateral matters and consulting on regional developments”, stressing that “neighbours are our priority”. Islamabad’s role as a conduit for such engagement has added weight to speculation about a structured US-Iran dialogue taking shape. The diplomatic push comes amid continued on page 6 Tribune News Service Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 24 The Supreme Court on Friday asked the appellate tribunals to give out-of-turn hearing to those who make out a case of urgent hearings against deletion from voter lists after the special intensive revision (SIR) of rolls in West Bengal. The top court also hailed the violence-free record voter turnout of more than 92 per cent in the first phase of the Assembly elections for 152 constituencies in the state on April 23, saying it would strengthen democracy in the country. “As a citizen of India, I was very happy to see the voting percentage. When people exercise the right to vote, this strengthens the democratic set up,” a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said. The Bench, which also included Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, refused to entertain pleas filed by several individuals from West Bengal, including 65 persons on election duty, against deletion of their names from the voter list. It asked them to approach the 19 appellate tribunals. “You have to raise these Patiala, April 24 The Patiala administration on Friday successfully carried out a high-risk rescue operation at Samana, bringing down Bhai Gurjit Singh Khalsa safely from a 400-ft BSNL tower after a coordinated effort involving multiple agencies. Khalsa had been sitting atop the tower for 560 days demanding stricter laws against sacrilege incidents in Punjab. The operation was conducted with support from the district administration, the police and Punjab Fire Services. It was done under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal. According to the DC, following the implementation of the Jaagat Jyot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026, by the Punjab Government, members of the Tower Morcha at Samana approached the administration to facilitate the safe rescue of Khalsa. Acting on the request, the administration mobilised emergency response teams and also sought technical assistance from the Army. Khalsa had been perched atop the tower since October 12, 2024. Senior officials pres- Activist Gurjit Singh Khalsa is helped by administration officials to climb down a 400-foot BSNL tower, ending his 560-day protest, in Samana, Patiala, on Friday; and (inset) meets a family member. ent during the operation included ADC (G) Simarpreet Kaur, SP (H) Vaibhav Chaudhary, Nodal Officer-cumSamana SDM Richa Goyal and DSP Fateh Singh Brar. The rescue was executed by a Punjab Fire Services team. The DC said the safety and well-being of Khalsa remained the top priority throughout the operation. Immediately after being brought down, he underwent a detailed examination by a medical team. “I am thankful to Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, the Samana SDM and all officials of the Patiala administration. Today’s issue is of 22 pages, including four-page Jalandhar Tribune. c m y b They supported me. I am doing fine and in good health… Waheguru ji ka Khalsa ... Waheguru ji ki Fateh,” Khalsa said after coming down from the tower. Hundreds of supporters had gathered at a park behind the tower when the operation was conducted. continued on page 6 arguments before the (appellate) tribunal,” it told a lawyer representing the petitioners. Pointing out that 65 of the petitioners were on election duty in the state, the lawyer said, “The order issued for election duty mentioned the EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) number, which was deleted subsequently. Now, the people on election duty cannot vote. This, on the face of it, is arbitrary as no show-cause notices were issued to the petitioners.” The counsel argued that the petitioners had already filed their appeals before the appellate tribunal. “Appropriate orders will be passed by the appellate tribunal… We will examine the more valuable right to remain on the rolls,” the Bench said. The top court's comments came during a hearing on petitions relating to 34 lakh appeals against exclusion from electoral rolls pending before appellate tribunals after senior counsel Kalyan Banerjee talked about the record voter turnout in the first phase.