Regional Journal: When India refused Lammy visit

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy was warmly received by the Indian establishment during his trip to Delhi, meeting PM Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. But less than a month ago, during his visit to Pakistan in mid-May, Lammy was politely told he could not visit India at the same time. New Delhi, highly sensitive to the idea of “third-party mediation”, did not want to give the impression that another Permanent Five leader, after US President Trump, was trying to broker a compromise between India and Pakistan, whose air war had ended barely a week earlier.

Tit-for-tat in Congress

The Ludhiana West bypoll has turned into a battleground not just between parties but within the Congress itself. PPCC chief Amrinder Raja Warring and Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi are locked in a subtle power struggle, each trying to outdo the other by bringing key leaders into the party. Channi brought Kamaljit Singh Karwal (Atam Nagar) and Karan Warring (Dakha) into the party fold, while the PPCC chief retaliated by facilitating the return of former CM critic and Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary. Party leaders call it "healthy democracy," pushing leaders to perform better.

Punjab's RCB link

Though Punjab Kings lost to the RCB in the IPL 2025 final, another Punjabi has given the state a reason to cheer. Maj Shaminder Singh Sidhu, 45, RCB’s head of team operations and manager, hails from Malout in Muktsar district. Educated in Malout and Bathinda, Sidhu prefers to stay out of the limelight, but his inspiring journey makes Punjab proud.

Media to academics, courtesy BJP

Amit Arya, a former journalist and ex-media adviser to ex-Haryana CM (now Union Urban Development Minister) ML Khattar, has taken over as VC of Dada Lakhmi Chand State University of Performing and Visual Arts, Rohtak. Known for his ties to top BJP-RSS leaders, Arya’s shift from media to government to academia has been smooth. While his government stint was comfortable, his administrative skills will face a real test at the decade-old, sprawling university.

Sukhbir’s ‘shagun’ surprise

With Ludhiana West bypoll campaigning at its peak, political heavyweights are either visiting daily or camping to support their candidates. Recently, SAD president Sukhbir Badal was in Ludhiana, where he visited Sunview Enclave to canvass for party candidate Paropkar Singh Ghuman. Spotting a newlywed couple in the market, Sukbir asked his OSD to fetch a “shagun da lifafa” from his car and gifted it to them, leaving the couple and onlookers pleasantly surprised.

New SSP steps up reforms

Alfred Tennyson’s words, “The old order changeth, yielding place to new”, hold true for the Gurdaspur police. The previous SSP kept two police vehicles and half a dozen guards outside his residence. New police chief Aditya swiftly ended these measures, sending guards back to the Police Lines and reassigning vehicles for field duty. “If an SSP needs this much protection, imagine the common man’s plight,” remarked an officer.

‘Uncle’ Chouhan’s invite

Interacting with farmers at Kheri Gandean village, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan invited them to visit him in Delhi anytime. “Don’t think of it as a minister’s residence. Consider it your uncle’s (mama's) house,” he said. His gesture comes amid farmer unrest over missing tractor-trailers after the March 20 crackdown and the clearance of Shambhu and Khanauri protest sites.

(Contributed by Jyoti Malhotra, Rajmeet Singh, Archit Watts, Pradeep Sharma, Shivani Bhakoo, Ravi Dhaliwal and Mohit Khanna)