hubballi l Saturday l January 17, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION fta with e.u. will be mother of all deals, says piyush goyal Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said negotiations with the 27-member European Union are in their last phase conclusion of talks likely on january 27 india getting a super deal, says minister The conclusion of the talks for the agreement between India and EU is likely to be announced on January 27. India is looking at zero-duty market access for its labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, leather, handlooms, and processed foods. EU is seeking greater access to Indian markets for auto exports, wines, and hi-tech manufacturing sectors ■ ■ European Council president Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will be on a state visit from Jan 25-27. They are chief guests at the 77th Republic Day Goyal said India is getting a super deal, and is giving EU a great deal too. “The good part is that we do not compete with each other.” $136.5bn was India’s bilateral trade in goods with the E.U. in 2024-25 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 BJP-led alliance Padi pooja in corruption spotlight at Sabari wrests country’s richest civic body S h a n A S @ T’Puram Captures BMC and most of the 28 other municipal corporations that went to polls won three and one seats, respectively . Of the total 29 civic body elections, the BJP managed to win over 20, which include Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Jalgaon, Dhule, Sangali-Miraj, Jalna, Ulhas Nagar, Akola, Vasai Virar, Amaravati, Sambhaji Nagar, Nanded, Panvel and Kalyan Dombivali, while the Congress managed to win Latur, Parbhani, Chandrapur, Bhiwandi and Kolhapur. The Shinde Sena held Thane, and the Ajit Pawar-led the NCP secured a win in the Ahilyanagar Municipal Corporation election. The AIMIM won in the Malegaon civic body against the Shiv Sena. The victory of the BJP in most of the civic bodies is a stamp on the leadership of incumbent Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He steered the BJP to emerge as the single largest party by winning as many as 1,438 corporators in the 29 civic bodies while the Shinde Sena secured 405, Congress 318, Uddhav Sena 157 seats, Ajit Pawar-led NCP 165 and Sharad Pawar-led NCP SP 35. The outcome could embolden the BJP to go alone in the 2029 assembly elections. As for the Opposition, it needs to introspect how to fight against the BJP effectively Lazy armchair . approach will not work against a party that does 24/7 politics with a mega poll machinery . S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai The BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena together breached the Thackeray citadel in Asia’s richest civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), by winning 116 of the 227 seats that were up for grabs, narrowly going past the halfway mark of 114. For the first time after 25 years, the BMC could have a non-Shiv Sainik as mayor. However, the narrow majority could prod Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Sena to lay claim to the post. In 2022, he became the surprise chief minister after toppling the Uddhav Thacke r a y - l e d government. “I am extremely grateful to my sisters and brothers of Mumbai for blessing the NDA,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X. “Mumbai is the pride of our nation. It is the city of aspiration. It is a city that drives our growth,” he said. In the BMC elections, the BJP won 89 seats against the previous tally of 82, while Uddhav’s Sena won 65 seats against the 84 his party won in 2017. The Shinde-led Sena bagged 29 seats, while Raj Thackeray’s MNS performed poorly with just six, and Congress slid to 24. Ajit Pawar’s NCP and NCP (Sharad Pawar) Amid the Sabarimala gold theft case sending shockwaves across Kerala, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (VACB) intelligence wing has warned of entrenched corruption and irregularities at the famous hill shrine, notably in the allotment of the prized padi pooja offering. In a ‘source report’, the intelligence wing calls for a sustained and precise action to root out the malpractices at Sabarimala, carried out with the active connivance of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) staff and their agents. The report, accessed by this newspaper, notes that 18 types of poojas and 39 kinds of offerings are perfor med at the shrine, with malpractices de- tected in the manner the TDB staff intervened in several rituals for monetary gain. As for padi pooja, the bookings are full till 2041. The intelligence report flags that most of these slots were cornered by TDB staff and their benamis, and later resold to devotees at steep premiums. While the official rate of padi pooja is `1.37 lakh, benamis charge devotees up to 10 times that amount. To conceal the fraud, the names of the actual devotees who paid for the ritual were not recorded by the devaswom board. Also, many of those who booked padi pooja in the past five years did not perform the ritual, with the slots instead being auctioned to higher bidders. Similar irregularities were flagged in rituals like thanka 228 BJP  1438 SS  405 CONG  318 NCP(AP) 165 SS(UBT) 157 AIMIM 94 NCP(SP) 35 Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Total Wards: 2869 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation VBA 15 NCP(SP): 1 MNS 14 NCP(AP): 3 MNS: 6 MIM: 8 Congress: 24 Shinde Sena: 29 BJP 89 Uddhav Sena 65 bull by its horns Celebrating Tamil pride, a group of tamers attempts to conquer a raging bull at the Palamedu Jallikattu in Madurai on Friday. A total of 881 bulls and around 400 tamers from across Tamil Nadu took part in the event | Shiba Prasad Sahu The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is planning to relax domicile norms for the allotment of its houses and flats by reducing the mandatory requirement of residency in Bengaluru from 10 years to just two. The move is aimed at clearing the inventory of unsold properties. A BDA official said a proposal to reduce the domicile criterion is under active discussion, but is not a government order yet. The move is intended to widen the pool of eligible applicants, official added. The change proposes that applicants will only need to prove 2 years of residence in Bengaluru, along with a valid city address and Aadhaar card. The move will apply to both Karnataka residents and applicants from other states. BDA maintains that it currently has no pending applications for houses and all earlier applications have been processed. The move, however, drew criticism from some local residents, who argued that easing domicile norms could put longterm Bengalureans at a disadvantage and favour “outsiders”. BDA countered it, saying it is driven by practical considerations as it is essential to boost sales and support urban development. RCB proposes 300-350 AI-powered cameras for better crowd control EVEN as the suspense over Benglauru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium hosting this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) matches continues, home team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday proposed to install 300-350 artificial intelligence-powered cameras at the stadium to ensure improved crowd management. In a formal communication to the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), RCB said the advanced surveillance technology will empower the association and law enforcement agencies to efficiently anki charthu (booking full till 2035), ashtabhishekam (booking full till 2035), sahasrakalasham (booking full till 2030), udaysthamana pooja, pushpabhishek- THE Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma’s plea challenging the Lok Sabha Speaker’s decision to admit an impeachment motion and the validity of a panel set up to inquire corruption charges against him. Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court after burnt wads of curren- @ chinnaswamy E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru The intelligence wing’s report says corruption also tainted tender procedures at the Sabarimala hill shrine, much like the sale of Adiya Shistam Ghee. It casts serious doubts on the annadanam being offered by the TDB, noting the absence of clear records on the number of beneficiaries e x p r ess n e w s se r v i c e @ New Delhi E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @Bengaluru Others  Tender procedures tainted, says report am and kalasabhishekam. The report also flags largescale irregularities in the allotment of rooms at Sannidhanam. Devaswom guards and security personnel have also been named for accepting financial favours from affluent devotees in return for facilitating VIP-style darshan. It further makes damning observations against TDB staff, accusing them of acting as agents for travel operators by arranging premium accommodation, expedited darshan, and pooja slots in exchange for extra cash. The source report calls for a detailed probe into temporary appointments at the Sabarimala, pointing out that many individuals have been repeatedly engaged on a temporary basis over the past decade. SC rejects Justice Varma’s petition Are you planning to buy Losers BDA flats? It may cut residency norm to 2 yrs Winners press clusive manage crowd movement, ensure disciplined queueing, monitor unauthorised access through real-time tracking of entries and exits, and significantly enhance overall fan safety . KSCA shared that RCB has taken upon itself to bear the entire cost of the potential operation, which is estimated to be around Rs 4.5 crore. The club has partnered with Gurugram-based technology company Staqu for the initiative. With advanced analysis of video, audio and text data, the system will enhance investigation and enable ac- curate decision-making. The realtime AI video analytics capability is said to allow for early detection of incidents such as violence, unauthorised access and intrusion, allowing suitable response from authorities and law enforcement. The stadium has not hosted any competitive cricket since the stampede during the RCB’s victory celebrations on June 4, 2025, in which 11 people lost their lives. Recently, the Karnataka government denied permission to host Vijay Hazare Trophy matches at the Stadium, citing safety concerns. The matches were moved to BCCI’s Centre of Excellence on the outskirts of Bengaluru. cy notes were found within his Delhi residence compound on March 14. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Shar ma said “constitutional safeguards for judges cannot come at the cost of paralysing the removal process itself,” and added there is nothing in the Inquiry Act to suggest that rejection of a motion in one House would render the other House incompetent to proceed in accordance with law. express read Bhimanna Khandre passes away at 103 BENGALURU: Veteran Congress leader and former president of the Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha Bhimanna Khandre (103) passed away on Friday night at Bhalki in Bidar. He is survived by two sons — Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre and Bidar DCC Bank president Amar Kumar Khandre — and four daughters | P4 Siddu hints next budget will be tight TUMAKURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday gave an indication that his budget for 2026-27 would be tight, as he promised `6 crore to develop sports facilities in Tumakuru, against `25 crore demanded by Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara | P4