tirupati l saturday l january 17, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l anantapur 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 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 ■ $136.5bn india getting a super deal, says minister ■ 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.” 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 Padi pooja in corruption spotlight at the Sabarimala S h a n A S @ T’Puram 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 famoue 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 detected 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 press clusive Tender procedures tainted, says report 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 Captures BMC and most of the 28 other municipal corporations that went to polls express read AP’s eye care prog wins nat’l accolades Vijayawada: The AP Medical and Health Department has earned national recognition for its eye care programme, which provides free eye examination and spectacles to government school students. Hence, the Centre has raised AP’s target for spectacle distribution from 90,000 to 2.5 lakh students for 2026-27 academic year | P3 AP steps up CSS spending on infra Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh has achieved growth in the implementation of CentrallySponsored Schemes (CSS) during FY 2025-26, with transparent fund utilisation ensured through SPARSH (System for Prompt Release of Funds for Centrally Sponsored Schemes) and SNA (System of Nodal Agencies) | P4 BJP-led alliance wrests country’s richest civic body 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 nonShiv 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 Thackeray-led government. “I am extremely grateful to my sisters and brothers of Mumbai for blessing the NDA,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in 4 drown at Isakapalli beach, 2 bodies found E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Nellore Four students of Gollapalli Ashram School went missing at Isakapalli beach in Allur mandal of Nellore district on Friday . According to reports reaching the district headquarters, the students visited their relatives’ houses at Errapagunta in Allur panchayat for Sankranti vacation. Later, they went to the beach, and ventured into the sea for a swim. However, the quartet were swept away by strong currents. The missing students were identified as Eega Ammulu (14), Class IX, Eega Bala Krishna (15) of Errapagunta, Abhishek (16) of Isakapalli, and Gandhalla Sudheer (15) of Chejerla. Bala Krishna, Abhishek and Sudheer are said to be Intermediate students. Soon after the drowning incident, a search operation was launched for the missing students. The bodies of Ammulu and Bala Krishna were retrieved from sea. Marine police, along with local fishermen, have intensified search operation for the remaining two students. A case has been registered. 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) 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, Chan- 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 anki charthu (booking full till 2035), ashtabhishekam (booking full till 2035), sahasrakalasham (booking full till 2030), udaysthamana pooja, pushpabhishekam 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. Winners Losers Others  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 BJP 89 MNS: 6 MIM: 8 Uddhav Sena Congress: 24 Shinde Sena: 29 drapur, 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 65 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 . Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu holds a review meeting with advisors of aerospace defence and IT-digital transformation in Tirupati on Friday | Express Govt to set up AP FIRST in Tirupati E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The State government has announced plans to set up AP FIRST (Andhra Pradesh Futuristic Innovation and Research in Science and Technology) in Tirupati. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has approved the proposal during a review meeting with aerospace, defence, and IT digital transformation advisors. The largest research centre will be established, in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), bringing together two premier national institutions. The research centre will focus on cutting-edge sectors, including aerospace, defence, SC rejects Justice Varma’s plea against probe panel e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi 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 currency notes were found within his Delhi residence compound on March 14. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma 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. Rooster fights go on unabated, ‘`2,000 crore change hands’ P h a n i n d r a Pa pa s a n i @ Vijayawada Sankranti festivities across Coastal Andhra, more specifically in the erstwhile undivided twin Godavari districts, were marred by large-scale illegal activities. Despite ban on rooster fights, the blood sport was conducted on a large scale in specially set up arenas, where Gundata, card games and other forms of gambling were also held. According to an unofficial estimate, more than `2,000 crore changed hands during the festival. Punters had placed huge bets on cockfights, gambling and other games. A punter hailing from Bhimavaram won the single highest bet of `1.53 crore on a rooster fight, another from Kesarapalli pocketed `1 crore. Cockfight arenas and gambling dens were set up extensively in both urban and rural areas, attracting punters from neighbouring States. The undivided twin Godavari districts alone reportedly recorded transactions exceeding `1,500 crore. Eluru, Bhimavaram, Kalla, Undi, Akiveedu and Veeravasaram emerged as major rooster fight hubs. Same was the case in Krishna, NTR and Guntur districts where a large number of cockfight arenas were set up with the alleged support of ruling coalition leaders. Police played a mute spectator role as the illegal activities continued unabated. The police had failed to curb rooster fights and gambling despite the clear A rooster fight being organised at an arena near Ramavarapadu IRR in Vijayawada on Friday as part of Sankranti festivities | Prasant Madugula Crowd control RCB proposes AI-powered cameras at Chinnaswamy in pre-IPL push E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru 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 in- stall 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 space technology AI and cyber, security semiconductors, quan, tum technology healthcare, bi, otechnology green energy and , , rural technologies. Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Minister emphasised the importance of equipping youth for future opportunities. “The government is planning to ensure Andhra Pradesh achieves growth in all sectors. Aerospace, defence, AI, semiconductors, quantum technology, and green energy will be crucial in the coming years. AP FIRST should serve as a platform to equip our youth with the skills needed for these industries,” Naidu said. He highlighted the State’s commitment to innovation and sustainability, citing the upcoming green ammonia plant in Kakinada as a milestone. P4 agencies to efficiently manage crowd movement, ensure disciplined queueing, monitor unauthorised access through realtime 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 proposed opera- tion, which is estimated to be around `4.5 crore. The club has partnered with Gurugrambased technology company Staqu for the initiative. With advanced analysis of video, audio and text data, the system will enhance investigation and enable accurate decision-making. The real-time AI video ana- lytics 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 RCB’s victory celebrations on June 4, 2025, in which 11 people lost their lives. Recently, the state government denied permission to host Vijay Hazare Trophy matches at the Stadium, citing safety concerns. The stadium in the heart of Bengaluru will also not host any matches of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to begin on February 7. directions of the Andhra Pradesh High Court to district collectors to take stringent action against organisers of the blood sport and gambling. The district authorities are also empowered to promulgate Section 144 if necessary to control the illegal activities. However, the enforcement of court directions seemed to be weak at the ground level with cockfights and gambling went on unabated for three days in the guise of Sankranti festivities. Districts such as Krishna, Guntur, East Godavari, West Godavari and Visakhapatnam emerged as major centres for illegal betting. Large temporary structures were set up, extensive security arrangements were made at the rooster fight arenas. Media access was restricted at several venues.  P4 ‘Swarna Chandragiri’ plan unveiled Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has announced the Swarnragiri development plan to transform Chandragiri mandal in Tirupati district into a model of sustainable and inclusive growth on the lines of Swarna Naravaripalle and Swarna Kuppam | P4