The Ideas Page: Nari shakti and the art of image management 9 SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2026 Journalism of Courage JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I LY F R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , KO L K ATA , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , VA D O DA R A POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 WELCOMED BY NABIN INTO BjP FOLD; SHOCK WAVES IN PUNjAB WHERE POLLS DUE EARLY NEXT YEAR In jolt to AAP, 7 of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs cross over to BJP Chadha’s removal,Mittal onEDradar: AAPpointsto earlysigns AAP calls it ‘betrayal’, accuses BJP of another ‘Operation Lotus’ jatin Anand & Liz Mathew New Delhi, April 24 IN A huge setback to the AAP, seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha members, constituting twothirds of the party strength in the Upper House, crossed over to the BJP Friday, creating ripples in political circles, especially in Punjab where AAP’s rule will be tested in Assembly elections early next year. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, AAP MP Raghav Chadha, removed as thepartydeputyleaderinRajya Sabha three weeks ago, said he, along with six party members oftheHouse,had“mergedwith the BJP”. The AAP had 10 MPs in RajyaSabha—7fromPunjab,3 from Delhi. Flanked by MPs Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, Chadha announced their exit from the AAP along with Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, Swati Maliwal and Harbhajan Singh. “They have already signed, and this morning we submitted all the required documentation, includingsignedlettersandother formalpaperwork,totheChairman of the Rajya Sabha,” he said. Following the press conference, Chadha and his colleagues headed to the BJP headquarters where they were welcomedintothepartyfoldby »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 jatin Anand & Deeptiman Tiwary New Delhi, April 24 Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal with BJP president Nitin Nabin and party leaders Anil Baluni (extreme left), Tarun Chugh and Arun Singh (extreme right) at the BJP office in New Delhi. PTI The Aam Aadmi Party which I nurtured with my blood and sweat... has completely strayed from its principles, values and core morals.” The game of dirty politics and the conspiracy to stall the good work of the Bhagwant Mann government (in Punjab) has begun on a large scale.” RAGHAV CHADHA, AHEAD OF JOINING BJP SANjAY SINGH, AAP RAJYA SABHA MP AAPinParliament RAjYA SABHA: 10 From Punjab: l Ashok Kumar Mittal l Harbhajan Singh l Raghav Chadha l Rajinder Gupta l Sandeep Kumar Pathak l Sant Balbir Singh l Vikramjit Singh Sahney From Delhi: l Narain Dass Gupta l Sanjay Singh l Swati Maliwal LOK SABHA: 3 l Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer ExPLAINED PAgE 10 wILL thE SEvEN fAcE dISqUALIfIcAtIoN? j&Kman,who playedkeyrole in2003strike onterrorhub, diesat63 l Malvinder Singh Kang l Raj Kumar Chabbewal. All from Punjab Jai Jawan lKALVAKUNTLA KAVITHA, daughter of former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, is set to officially launch her new political party — Jagruthi Party — in Hyderabad. TRACK THIS AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPREss.cOM USPRESIDENTDonaldTrump issendinghisenvoysSteveWitkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan,theWhiteHousesaidFriday, just hours after Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi headed to the South Asian nation where officials have been trying to get the US and Iran to convene for a second roundofceasefirenegotiations. The trip comes as much of the world is on edge over a war that has snarled crucial energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz, clouded the global economic picture and left thousands dead across the Middle East. THEDEFECTIONofsevenAam AadmiParty(AAP)RajyaSabha MPs is not merely a setback in Delhi, but could have an effect inPunjab,wheretheparty’sgovernment faces Assembly elections in less than a year. What has the AAP leadership concerned is the deep organisational roles that Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak Manish Kumar Pathak Mumbai, April 24 WHEN MUMBAI gangster Sadiq Kalia was shot dead in a police encounter at Dadar in 1999, his nephew, Sadiq Javar, was barely two years old. And yet, 27 years later, according to MumbaiPolice,Javarallegedly went looking for the man he blamedforit—an“informant” whose tip-off had allegedly led to Kalia’s killing by a team led by “encounter specialist” Daya E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 in collaboration with National Museum, Govt. of India cordially invites you to the nd 32 Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture on “Ethics of Public Life in an Age of Technology” to be delivered by Dr Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud Former Chief Justice of India Date : Saturday, April 25, 2026 Time : 05:00 PM Venue : Auditorium, National Museum, Janpath, New Delhi-110011 Bharat Ratna Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Dr Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud (1904-1966) Former Chief Justice of India The memorial lecture can be viewed at: http://ytube.Lbsim.ac.in Security restrictions in Islamabad on Friday ahead of the second round of peace talks between US and Iran. REUTERS White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview on Fox News Channel that the two will have talks with Araghchi on Saturday. “We’re hopeful that it will be a 27 years after police shot dead gangster, nephew kills ‘informant’, arrested had in Punjab and the influence they wielded all these yearsrightfromtheselectionof candidates ahead of the 2022 polls. Nearly 50% of AAP MLAs owe their candidature to either of the two. In other words, the split in theparty’sranksinRajyaSabha also brings to the fore Chandigarh, April 24 YouTube Happening today Islamabad, April 24 Lal Bahadur Shastri National Memorial Trust Jammu, April 24 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kanchan Vasdev »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Munir Ahmed, jon Gambrell & jamey Keaten Jai Kisan Arun Sharma WHEN HIS brother was killed by terrorists in 2002, Fazal Tahir left his job as a supervisor at a marble company in Saudi Arabia to seek revenge. And that’s exactly what he did: he would be seen as instrumental intheIndianArmy’sOperation Sarp Vinash, an exercise to purge Hilkaka — a hamlet nestled in the mountains of Surankote tehsil in Jammu’s Poonch—ofterroristswhohad established a parallel state there. This week, the hero of Hilkaka, Tahir, a Muslim Gujjar , diedofaheartattackinUttarakhand and was laid to rest in his native Murrah village. He was 63,andissurvivedbytwowives and three minor sons. A Special Police Officer in Jammu & Kashmir Police, Tahir began working as a timber merchant after his retirement two years ago and was on a business trip to Uttarakhand Faultlines in AAP Punjab, raise fears of wider churn STUNNED BY the exit of seven of their 10 Rajya Sabha members, AAP insiders said Friday they were aware of a storm brewing for the last “week to ten days” following the party decision to remove RaghavChadha,oneofitsmost visiblefaces,astheAAPdeputy leader in the Upper House, literally showing him the door. According to party insiders, AAP national general secretary (organisation)SandeepPathak, a close aide of party chief ArvindKejriwal,hadcalledonthe former Delhi Chief Minister at the latter’s residence in the Capital when he was in town during the special session of Parliament last week. While details related to Pathak’smeetingwithKejriwalremained unclear, sources said he was likely to have conveyed thathenolongerenjoyedmuch supportfromtheparty’sorganisationalranksinPunjabwhere Trump sends Witkoff, Kushner to Pak, talks with Araghchi today Prof. Praveen Gupta Director Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management for Invitation, please contact : Col (Retd.) Ajay Sood (Registrar & CAO, LBSIM) : 9958137595 Dr. Sheetal Singh (Head, LBSM) : 8979175656 Email: cao@Lbsim.ac.in, Lbsmemorialdelhi@gmail.com Organised by : Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi Jaipur Nayak. On the evening of April 20, the alleged informant Iqbal Ibrahim Seliya, 78, was alone at hishomeinNagpadawhentwo men walked in and attacked him with a chopper. They struck him more than 20 times and left only after making sure hewasdead.WhenSeliya’swife and son returned home, police said, they found him lying in a pool of blood. Four days later, on Friday, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward to a deal,” Leavitt said. She said US Vice President J D Vance would not be »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 business as Usual By EP UNNY NATION PAgE 3 oPP MPs SUbMIt frESh NotIcE to rEMovE cEc