THURSDAY 29 JANUARY, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard POTENTIAL BIDDERS FOR RCB AS RAJASTHAN VALUED AT OVER $1 BN NUKE DEAL TIME RUNNING OUT FOR IRAN: TRUMP The US President on Wednesday renewed threats to attack Tehran, saying “time is running out” to make a deal on nuclear weapons PAGE 9 After months of speculation, reports suggest that over 50 companies have showed an interest in acquiring defending IPL champions $2 BILLION BUZZ ON BENGALURU’S FUTURE A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 Maha shocker as Ajit Pawar dies in jet crash 4 others, including 2 pilots perish; state’s ruling MahaYuti coalition in turmoil; last rites to be held in Baramati today POOR VISIBILITY, LATER CLEARED TO LAND 1 Ajit Pawar was a leader of the people... his passion for empowering the poor were noteworthy. His untimely demise is saddening A stand was floated from Kolkata that there is politics involved in this incident. There is no politics in it. It was an accident Narendra Modi, Prime Minister The aircraft VI-SSK was trying to land amid poor visibility. It first came in contact with Baramati Air Traffic Controller at 8.18 am 2 Its next call was at 30 nautical miles inbound to Baramati; advised to descend in “visual meteorological conditions” at the pilot’s discretion 3 On first approach to Runway 11, pilot said the runway was not visible and initiated a go-around. On second attempt, the airstrip was spotted 4 The aircraft was cleared to land on Runway 11 at 8.43 am, but failed to respond to Baramati ATC. Next minute, it was up in flames Sharad Pawar, NCP chief S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai MAHARASHTRA Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others were killed when their chartered aircraft crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati airstrip in Pune district on Wednesday morning. FlightRadar data showed the aircraft departed Mumbai at 8.10 am and disappeared from radar shortly after 8.44 am. The 66-year-old leader, fondly known as Dada (elder brother), was flying from Mumbai to address zilla parishad poll rallies Aeroplane crashes near runway Crash site Ajit Pawar Baramati airstrip 22 July 1959 - 28 January 2026 near Pune, when the Learjet 45 crashed during a second landing attempt at 8.44 am. Poor visibility forced the pilot to abort the first approach, but moments after receiving clearance for the second attempt, the aircraft burst into flames near the runway threshold without providing the mandatory readback to EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi air traffic control. Also killed were Captain Sumit Kapoor, co-pilot Shambhavi Pathak, Pawar’s personal security officer Vidit Jadhav, and flight attendant Pinki Mali. All five were declared dead at Baramati hospital. Witnesses described watching the aircraft circle the air- field before it “hit the ground hard and exploded.” Aviation experts said the tragedy could have been avoided if the runway had been equipped with an instrument landing system to guide pilots through marginal visibility. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is analysing the black box to as- EXPRESS READ ‘New fraud!’ Haryana told to reply on students’ conversion to Buddhism Voicing concern over a “new type of fraud” by some upper-caste people converting to Buddhism for quota benefits, the Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a report from the Haryana chief secretary. A two-judge bench, led by CJI Surya Kant, was hearing a plea filed by a person, who was seeking admission as minority candidate, claiming to be a Buddhist. | P3 No cricket team, but B’desh shooters all set for India visit I N D R A N E E L D A S @ Chennai REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE benefited sectors like food products and automobiles, but export-oriented sectors such as apparel, textiles and chemicals saw moderate IIP growth. As per the use-based classification, primary goods and consumer sectors provided traction. Consumer durables rose 12.3% and non-durables surged 8.3%. Deshpande said that going forward, while domestic tailwinds should support demand in consumer segments for a few more quarters, the adverse impact of higher US tariffs on export segments could get more pronounced. However, a trade deal with the US, reducing the tariff to closer to levels faced by peers, could help matters, she added. IIP growth accelerated to a 6-quarter high of 5.2% in Q3 FY2026 from 4.3% in Q2, reflecting the improvement in the performance of the manufacturing and mining sectors. DAYS after the Bangladesh cricket team was replaced by Scotland after they refused to travel to India citing security reasons, their shooting team, comprising of two shooters and other support staff, have seemingly confirmed their participation at the Asian Shooting Championships, to be held in Delhi from February 2 to 14. Two of their shooters — Shaira Arefin and Md Robiul Islam — are set to take part in the individual as well as mixed team in the 10m air rifle category The two have been given clearance by . the ministries concerned and the Indian high commission in Dhaka has been requested to help them with visa formalities. This was confirmed by the National Rifle Association of India. Its secretary, Rajiv Bhatia told this newspaper that they have sought all clearances from ministries and as of now their counterparts in Bangladesh have confirmed participation. “They have confirmed and are coming for the championships. We have sought clearance from Ministry of External Affairs, home and sports ministries. We are in touch with Bangladesh players. They have confirmed participation. As of now there is no change,” he said. The cricket team refused to travel to India days after BCCI directed Kolkata Knight Riders to drop Mustafizur Rahman from the roster. Reports in Bangladesh indicate the team has got government nod. Refusal to travel might incur the wrath of international shooting federation as well as the International Olympic Committee. Massive snow slide in HP, Lahaul-Spiti cut off H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh A massive snow slide has caused major property damage and panic among residents in the tribal Bharmour region of Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district. Heavy snowfall also completely paralysing normal life in Lahaul-Spiti, cutting it off from the rest of the state. A huge portion of snow broke FATAL LANDINGS SANJAY GANDHI (1980) Congress leader; died June 23 in a plane crash near Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi MADHAVRAO SCINDIA (2001) Senior Congress leader died Sept 30 in plane crash near Mainpuri, UP off from the mountain following continuous snowfall and crashed down with snow, rocks, and debris. Locals said that snow of this volume had slid in their area for the first time in nearly 50 years. The incident follows exceptionally heavy snowfall in the region. The area received 3-4 feet of snowfall on January 23 and 24, followed by more than 2 feet of fresh snowfall on Tuesday night, during which the snow slide occurred. Heavy snowfall has paralysed normal life in Lahaul-Spiti, cutting off the region from the rest of the state. The transportation, power supply and daily activities in the district have been disrupted due to continuous snowfall, accompanied by strong snow blizzards. Manali-Leh NH blocked The Manali-Leh national highway via the Atal Tunnel has been closed to traffic beyond Solang Nala, further isolating Lahaul valley from the rest of the state. certain the exact cause. The IAF responded to a request from the Maharashtra government by deploying an emergency Air Traffic Control team and essential technical equipment to the airfield. NCP founder Sharad Pawar, Ajit’s uncle, rushed to Baramati where he said, Ajit’s loss is G M C BALAYOGI (2002) Lok Sabha Speaker; died March 3 in helicopter crash in Krishna district, AP Y S RAJASEKHARA REDDY (2009) AP CM; died September 2 in helicopter crash in Nallamala forest GEN BIPIN RAWAT (2021) Industrial activity grew at its fastest pace in 2 yrs in Dec INDIA’s industrial activity galloped in December last with the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth accelerating to 7.8% from 7.2% in November 2025, marking the fastest pace in the last 26 months, government data released on Wednesday showed. The manufacturing sector, which has a 77.6% weight in the index, grew 8.1%, slightly slower than 8.5% in November 2025 but higher than 3.7% in December 2024. The sector was supported by 6.8% growth in mining and 6.3% rise in electricity generation. Observing that the growth in factory output in December last exceeded expectations, ICRA’s chief economist Aditi Nayar said the surprise was largely driven by the manufacturing output. She said the growth in this crucial sector was “likely aided by restocking post the festive season, even as the growth in India’s non-oil exports was sluggish in the month”. Within the manufacturing sector, the computer, electronic & optical products category grew 34.9% while the motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers segment surged 33.5%. Dipti Deshpande, principal economist at Crisil, said that within manufacturing, GST rationalisation is likely to have As RCB are one of the most valuable franchises, companies hoping to buy them will have to shell out top dollar. Several reports suggest $2bn but that figure may not be hit. While several Indian companies have shown interest, including vaccine giant, Serum, other names includes Temasek (Singapore), US based businessman, David Blitzer First CDS; died Dec 8 in Mi-17V5 crash near Coonoor, TN (14 fatalities) VIJAY RUPANI (2025) Ex-Gujarat CM; died June 12 in Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad (270 total deaths) one “that can never be filled”. CM Devendra Fadnavis declared three-day state mourning and called Ajit’s death a personal loss, describing him as a “trusted friend.” Ajit served as deputy CM for a record six terms across governments led by the Congress, Shiv Sena, and the BJP. After splitting from his uncle’s party in July 2023, he won 41 assembly seats in alliance with the BJP . His last rites will be held on Thursday at Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati. PM Modi is expected to attend. P8 SC to list, hear petition against UGC regulation S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Cour t on Wednesday agreed to list for hearing a plea challenging the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026, on the ground that it restricts caste-based discrimination grievance mechanisms to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The plea alleges UGC uses a non-inclusionary definition of caste-based discrimination. As a result, certain categories, especially general category students, do not get institutional protection and grievance redress mechanisms. The counsel for the petitioner, Rahul Diwan and others, sought urgent listing of the m at t e r, s u b m i t t i n g t h at there was a real possibility of discrimination against the general category under the new regulations. A Bench comprising CJI Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi agreed to hear the matter. “We know what’s happening. Make sure that the defects are cured. We will list it,” the bench said.