28042026-TTC-01.qxd 4/28/2026 12:29 AM Page 1 c m y b PUTIN, ARAGHCHI VOW WEST ASIA PEACE WORLD /thetribunechd 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 146 NO. 116 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 tuesday | 28 april 2026 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Jolt to AAP as RS Chairman okays merger of its seven MPs with BJP HC restricts stay on Haryana’s stilt+4 policy only to Gurugram Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Kejriwal-led party terms it unconstitutional, says will move court Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 27 The Aam Aadmi Party suffered its severest blow on Monday as Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan officially accepted and notified the merger of seven of its defected MPs with the BJP . The names of the seven MPs — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Vikramjit Sahney, Ashok Mittal and Rajinder Gupta — now feature in the BJP parliamentary party segment on the Rajya Sabha party-wise tally. BJP president Nitin Nabin (second right) with Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal in New Delhi. FILE The move, which AAP has vowed to fight politically and legally, has powered the BJP’s numerical strength in the Rajya Sabha from 106 to 113. The BJP-led NDA government, meanwhile, welcomed the new entrants, with the Parliamentary Affairs Minister saying they had bid goodbye to the “tukde tukde INDI Alliance and chosen the constructive politics represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. The overall numbers of the ruling NDA have now soared from 141 to 148 in the 245member House where 123 is the majority mark. Rajya Sabha sources said the Chairman took a legal opinion on the seven-member AAP bloc’s declaration to merge with the BJP All seven MPs, who . form a two-thirds of the AAP’s 10-MP strength in the House, signed the letter of merger, which was accepted today. continued on page 9 Dinesh Trivedi made envoy to Bangladesh Ex-minister rare political pick for post Ujwal Jalali Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 27 Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Dinesh Trivedi has been appointed as India’s next High Commissioner to Bangladesh, the government announced on Monday, a rare instance of a political appointee being chosen to head a key diplomatic mission traditionally led by career diplomats. The Tribune had on April 19 exclusively reported about Trivedi’s impending appointment. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the 75-year-old politician-turned diplomat is expected to take up the assignment shortly. A seasoned parliamentarian, Trivedi brings decades of polit- THE TRIBUNE WAS THE FIRST TO REPORT IT ON APRIL 19 ical and administrative experience to the role. Born in New Delhi in 1950, he holds an MBA from the University of Texas and is also a trained pilot, with an early career spanning business and aviation before entering public life. His appointment comes at a time when New Delhi is continued on page 9 PM’s open letter, Mamata’s roadshow mark final push as Bengal campaign ends Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 27 Issues of identity, governance, representation and electoral trust dominated the high-pitched battle for West Bengal as campaigning for the second and final phase ended on Monday. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s open letter to the state and his famed pitstop for jhalmuri to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s no-holdsbarred street-level canvassing, the election saw what many political observers described as a “never-before” energy. Voters’ response will now be gauged on April 29, when 142 constituencies will go to the polls in the second phase. CM Mamata Banerjee rides pillion on a scooter in Kolkata. PTI It remains to be seen whether the competing narratives of the BJP and the TMC mobilise voters on polling day, after a record turnout of 93.19 per cent in the first leg of the elections on April 23. PM Modi wrapped up the final continued on page 9 Kejriwal won’t appear before judge who refused to recuse Rahul Gahlawat Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 27 Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has written to the Delhi High Court judge, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, saying he will not appear before her in the excise case either personally or through a lawyer, the party said on Monday. The former Delhi CM said he took the decision after listening to the voice of his conscience. In a letter addressed to the judge, Kejriwal said the decision was not rooted in anger or disrespect but taken in “pain, with humility, and with an abiding faith in the role INDIA INKS TRADE PACT WITH NEW ZEALAND BACK PAGE Ex-CM writes to Delhi HC’s Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the judiciary”. He added that the issue raised in the letter concerned “the faith of ordinary citizens in the impartiality of the judicial process”. The development comes days after the High Court, on April 20, dismissed Kejriwal’s plea seeking the recusal of Justice Sharma from hearing the matter. Reflecting on the order, Kejriwal wrote that his “wellgrounded apprehensions continued on page 9 c m y b Chandigarh, April 27 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday limited the extent of its April 2 interim order staying the Haryana Government’s “stilt+4 floor” policy only to Gurugram district. The assertion came as a Division Bench of the court permitted the authorities concerned to proceed against encroachments and other violations across the state in accordance with law. The court had on April 2 restrained the state from going ahead with the “stilt+4 floor policy” for residential plots after holding that the continued on page 9 Ahead of poll, Punjab junks vertical expansion scheme Rajmeet Singh Tribune News service Chandigarh, April 27 In a policy U-turn, the Punjab Government on Monday withdrew the much-debated Punjab Unified Building Rules, 2025, restoring the earlier regulatory framework amid mounting legal and environmental concerns. The 2025 policy was aimed at allowing contentious provisions such as relaxations for higher vertical expansion, including stiltplus-four-floor constructions. The decision comes ahead of the Assembly elections and months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court, while hearing a writ petition in December last year, stayed key provisions of the 2025 rules that were found inconsistent with existing building regulations. The court had also directed that the violations classified under previous norms “be not regularised”. This marks the second major rollback by the Housing Department after the withdrawal of the land pooling policy, both initiatives having been designed to generate continued on page 9 Ladakh L-G notifies five new districts SRINAGAR: Ahead of Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Ladakh this week, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Monday approved the notification for the creation of five new districts in the UT — Nubra, Sham, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass — nearly two years after the MHA cleared the decision. INSIDE HC rejects Bishnoi’s petition on TV series NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday disposed of a petition filed by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi challenging the proposed release of the docuseries “Lawrence of Punjab” on ZEE5, noting that the issue had become infructuous in view of advisories issued by the Centre. INSIDE
The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising four eminent persons as trustees.
The Tribune, the largest selling daily in North India, publishes news and views without any bias or prejudice of any kind. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language and partisanship, are the hallmarks of the paper. It is an independent newspaper in the real sense of the term.
The English edition apart, the 133-year-old Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).
