CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ HYDERABAD l tuesday l January 20, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE CITY EDITION Tapgate SIT summons Harish Ex-minister to be examined today by investigators in main phone-tapping case E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ Hyderabad As expected, the second Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday summoned BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao for examination in the phone-tapping case, making him the first senior BRS leader to be called by the new SIT. In a notice issued under Section 160 of the CrPC, the SIT asked Harish Rao to appear before the investigating officers at 11 am on Tuesday at the Jubilee Hills police station. The notice pertains to allegations of illegal phone-tapping during the previous BRS Meet with Kavitha ‘pure speculation’, says Prashant E N S @ Hyderabad Political circles went into overdrive on Monday after reports emerged that Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha has actively discussed launching a new political party in Telangana with ace political strategist Prashant Kishor. However, Kishor told TNIE that the reports of his meetings with Kavitha were “pure speculation”. Meanwhile, when asked about the buzz in political corridors, a confidant of Kavitha told TNIE that some form of coordination between the two has at least been explored. The chatter had gained traction against the backdrop of shifting political equations in Telangana and a visible churn within the Opposition space. continued on p4 Listening in n December 2023: Congress government comes to power in Telangana n March 10, 2024: Main phone-tapping case registered at Panjagutta police station n 2024: Arrests of senior police officers and A Shravan Rao in the case n December 2024: Separate complaint filed by G Chakradhar Goud n December 18, 2025: State govt constitutes second SIT n December 2025: Supreme Court directs T Prabhakar Rao to surrender n January 2026: Harish Rao summoned by the second SIT regime. Harish Rao was in Siddipet when the notice was served at his Hyderabad residence on Monday evening. This is nothing but a diversionary tactic by the Congress government to shift focus from the coal block allocation scam involving Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s brother-in-law KT Rama Rao, BRS working president According to sources, the notice followed the deposition of A Shravan Rao, an accused in the phone-tapping case and owner of a vernacular news channel. BRS sources said Harish Rao would first reach Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters, on Tuesday morning and then proceed to the Jubilee Hills police station. It may be recalled that the Supreme Court recently dismissed a petition filed against Harish Rao by Siddipet-based realtor G Chakradhar Goud, who had alleged that his phone was tapped during the BRS regime and raised doubts over the role of Harish Rao. Goud had lodged a complaint at the Panjagutta police station in December 2024.  continued on p4 Nitin Nabin unopposed candidate for BJP prez RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi NITIN Nabin, 45, on Monday emerged as the unopposed candidate for the BJP national president. A formal announcement on his election will be made on Tuesday A five-term Bi. har MLA and currently the party’s national working president, Nabin will be the youngest to occupy the top seat. He will succeed veteran leader J P Nadda. His candidature was backed by top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. On Monday in line with organ, isational rules, outgoing party chief Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh handed over Nabin’s nomination papers to K Laxman, the returning officer for the election, at the party’s central office. Thereafter, Arunachal CM Pema Khandu and BJP Outgoing BJP chief J P Nadda, Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Kiren Rijiju, and senior leaders propose the name of Nitin Nabin for BJP national president, in New Delhi on Monday | PTI leaders from Bihar, Andhra, Maharashtra, Assam, and Jharkhand submitted papers in his support. In all, 37 sets of papers favouring Nabin were filed, paving the way for his unopposed election as the BJP’s 12th national president. Nabin will take over at a time the party prepares for Assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. The first BJP chief to hail from Bihar, Nabin has travelled exten- sively across states since becoming BJP working president on December 14, 2025. During his interactions with cadre, his message has been to become fulltime politicians and give their 100% to serve people. He entered mainstream politics in 2006, when the BJP fielded him from the Patna West Assembly constituency following the death of his father Navin Kishore Sinha, who had close ties with the RSS. SC to ECI: Reveal logical ‘Don’t fuel terror in discrepancy list in WB Jaishankar warns poland our neighbourhood’ J ayanth ja c o b @ New Delhi External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday delivered a blunt message to Poland, warning it not to take actions that help fuel terrorist infrastruct u re in I nd ia ’s neighbourhood. “ Yo u a r e n o stranger to our region and are certainly familiar with the longstanding challenge of cross-border terrorism,” Jaishankar said in his televised opening remarks during talks with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski in New Delhi. “Poland should display zero toler- ance for terrorism and not help fuel the terrorist infrastructure in our neighbourhood.” The remarks reflect New Delhi’s unease over a reference to Kashmir in a Poland-Pakistan joint statement, issued during Sikorski’s visit to Islamabad in October, which went against India’s position on the issue. Jaishankar also criticised the West’s “selective targeting” of India over New Delhi’s energy ties with Moscow. Sikorski’s three-day visit to India comes days ahead of a visit by the EU’s top leadership to New Delhi. INdia, UAE eye defence pact | p8 e x p ress ne w s ser v i c e @ New Delhi/Kolkata THE Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission of India to publicly display names of 1.25 crore voters flagged for “logical discrepancies” at gram panchayat offices, block headquarters, and ward offices in the state. Logical discrepancies, linked to the 2002 voter list, include mismatches in parents’ names and biologically implausible age gaps between voters and their parents (less than 15 years or exceeding 50 years). A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi said those likely to be affected by the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in West Bengal should be allowed to submit their documents or objections. Directing that the exercise be conducted smoothly the , bench said, “Let us ensure that this exercise runs smoothly it is timely completed by ensuring a transparent meas, ure giving fair opportunity to all those who feel because of some discrepancy they are under unnecessary doubt.” Speaking at a rally in Barasat, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee interpreted the Supreme Court’s direction to the Election Commission as “slaps on faces of those who tried to deprive people of the fundamental right to vote.” n e x t i c c o p ti o n s Forfeiture or Scotland in place of B’desh s w ar o o p s w am i nathan @ Chennai THE International Cricket Council (ICC) continues to juggle multiple T20 World Cup-related issues even though the event is now less than three weeks away . It’s understood that multiple stakeholders are deep in conversation with respect to Bangladesh’s insistence on not playing their games in India. If the ICC doesn’t relent and Bangladesh withdraw, the world governing body has to consider the way forward. And time is very limited before the first set of matches on February 7. It’s understood that one of the ways could be a last-minute invitation to Scotland to fill the Bangladeshsized hole in Group C. Scotland, by virtue of being the highest-ranked team to not qualify for the event, will be one of the first teams to get a call. What adds to the intrigue is that when contacted by this daily, a Cricket Scotland source said they ‘aren’t commenting’ on the matter. But do remember that Jersey finished higher than Scotland in the actual qualifiers but they are not expected to be an option. The other option ICC has is a straightforward forfeit. That would mean that the other four teams in Group C essentially beginning the tournament with a win to their names. But that may not be palatable to the broadcasters who have spent a lot of money to secure the rights for this event. The lack of four live games results in a loss of revenue. If Scotland does come, the very lopsided nature of Group C — the other teams are England, West Indies, Nepal and Italy — could give a potential advantage to two of the former champions. TVK chief and actor Vijay leaves the CBI headquarters in New Delhi after the second round of questioning over the Karur stampede on Monday | PTI