{"id":64252,"date":"2026-04-26T13:08:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T07:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/?p=64252"},"modified":"2026-04-26T13:08:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T07:38:33","slug":"security-row-erupts-as-harbhajan-singhs-cover-withdrawn-after-bjp-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/latest\/security-row-erupts-as-harbhajan-singhs-cover-withdrawn-after-bjp-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"Security row erupts as Harbhajan Singh\u2019s cover withdrawn after BJP switch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jalandhar: The withdrawal of security for Harbhajan Singh after his exit from the Aam Aadmi Party and entry into the Bharatiya Janata Party has triggered a major political controversy in Punjab.<\/p>\n<p>Leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal have strongly criticised the move, calling it an act of \u201cpolitical vendetta\u201d by the state government.<\/p>\n<p>Opposition slams \u2018revenge politics\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Akali Dal leader Gurkirpal Singh Sidhu condemned the decision, alleging that the AAP-led Punjab government targeted Harbhajan Singh for switching sides.<\/p>\n<p>The development comes shortly after Harbhajan, along with several other MPs, resigned from AAP and joined BJP.<\/p>\n<p>Centre steps in with CRPF cover<\/p>\n<p>According to sources, soon after the state security was withdrawn, the Centre intervened and provided protection to Harbhajan Singh through the Central Reserve Police Force.<\/p>\n<p>The episode has further escalated tensions between political parties in the state, with accusations and counter-accusations intensifying ahead of upcoming elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jalandhar: The withdrawal of security for Harbhajan Singh after his exit from the Aam Aadmi Party and entry into the Bharatiya Janata Party has triggered a major political controversy in Punjab. Leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal have strongly criticised the move, calling it an act of \u201cpolitical vendetta\u201d by the state government. Opposition slams [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,37,21],"tags":[14594,14593],"class_list":["post-64252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-national","category-political-news","tag-cover-withdrawn-after-bjp-switch"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Security row erupts as Harbhajan Singh\u2019s cover withdrawn after BJP switch - PunjabENews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/latest\/security-row-erupts-as-harbhajan-singhs-cover-withdrawn-after-bjp-switch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Security row erupts as Harbhajan Singh\u2019s cover withdrawn after BJP switch - PunjabENews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jalandhar: The withdrawal of security for Harbhajan Singh after his exit from the Aam Aadmi Party and entry into the Bharatiya Janata Party has triggered a major political controversy in Punjab. Leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal have strongly criticised the move, calling it an act of \u201cpolitical vendetta\u201d by the state government. 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