tirupati l saturday l october 25, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION MODI obliquely endorses Nitish as Bihar Chief Minister candidate Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the National Democratic Alliance under the leadership of Nitish Kumar will script a record win in Bihar polls PM’s statement comes after Tejashwi jibe Modi’s statement indirectly endorsing Nitish as the NDA’s CM face comes a day after RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Opposition INDIA bloc’s CM candidate, had claimed that the BJP would not let Nitish become CM again. Modi’s stance is different from Union home minister Amit Shah’s recent remark that the NDA would decide on CM after the elections ■ Nov 14 20 yrs of nda rule did NO GOOD: RJD leader ■ Modi said people can’t expect the RJD-Congress to solve any of their problems. “They (RJD-Cong) are a problem by themselves,” he said Meanwhile, Tejashwi alleged there is widespread unemployment and rampant corruption. “Despite 20 years of NDA rule in Bihar, the state’s per capita income is the lowest and farmers remain poor,” he claimed When Bihar Assembly election results will be announced 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 India-US trade deal to be inked very soon: Govt It took hours to extinguish bus inferno K M a d h u s u d h a k a r @ Kurnool Nineteen people, including two children, were charred to death, and several others sustained burn injuries when an AC sleeper bus travelling from Hyderabad to Beng alur u caught fire on the National Highway 44 near Chinnatekuru village in Kurnool district in the early hours of Friday . The bus belonging to Vemuri Kaveri Travels caught fire around 3 am after hitting a motorcycle, and dragged it for some distance, generating sparks which ignited its fuel tank, triggering the blaze. The biker also died in the incident, taking the toll to 20. At the time of the accident, a total of 46 people, including four children, and two drivers, were in the vehicle. As the flames spread rapidly, passengers were trapped inside the burning vehicle. Locals and police acted swiftly rescuing sev, eral passengers despite the intense blaze, and heavy rain. Rescue operations continued for hours, and with the joint efforts of fire service personnel, police, revenue, and medical teams, the fire was brought under control, and injured were shifted to Kurnool GGH.  P4 Negotiations concluded, both sides working on the language of the bilateral agreement P U S H P I TA DE Y @ New Delhi Kurnool Bus Tragedy 20 charred Bus hit a bike and dragged it along, sparks ignited the deadly fire One of the survivors recuperating at a govt hospital in Kurnool | Express Twenty people, including two children and a biker, were charred to death, and several others injured when an AC sleeper bus from Hyderabad to Bengaluru caught fire on NH 44 near Chinnatekuru village in Kurnool district around 3 am Friday Bus illegally modified into a sleeper coach P h a n i n d r a Pa pa s a n i @ Vijayawada The bus belonging to Vemuri Kaveri Travels owned by Vemuri Vinod Kumar, which met with a horrific accident near Chinnatekur village in Kurnool district in the early hours of Friday, had flouted several transport regulations. The bus was converted into a sleeper coach without proper authorisation, and it was also being operated across States under questionable documentation. According to official records, the bus bearing registration number DD01 N9490 was owned by Vemuri Vinod Kumar, proprietor of Vemuri Kaveri Travels. It was originally purchased on May 2, 2018, and registered in Daman and Diu. On April 29, 2025, the registration was transferred to the Rayagada RTO in Odisha under the name of G Bijaya Laxmi, mentioning what officials suspect to be an unverified address. Further scrutiny revealed that the base (tourist) permit issued by Odisha authorities is valid from May 1, 2025, to April 30, 2030, while the fitness certificate issued by Silvassa (Daman and Diu) officials remains valid up to March 31, 2027. Despite having valid documents such as insurance, fitness, and road tax, officials had failed to identify that the bus was originally registered as a seater coach, which was later modified into a sleeper without following safety protocols. When contacted, Rayagada RTA officials, who reportedly approved the vehicle’s ‘alteration’ under the guise of seating configuration modification, P4 claimed ignorance.  express read RBI office to come up in Amaravati Vijayawada: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday finalised an agreement to establish its regional office in Amaravati, signalling confidence in the capital city’s planned growth. The RBI purchased three acres of land in Nelapadu village from the State government for `12 crore. The new regional office is expected to cost over `200 crore Despite geopolitical challenges, India and the US are close to concluding a bilateral trade deal, a commerce ministry official said on Friday adding ma, jor differences have been ironed out and both sides are now on the same page on most matters. “We are very near as far as the deal is concerned,” said the official while disclosing that both countries are now working on the language of the trade deal. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who is in Germany for the Berlin Global Dialogue, had on Thursday said the trade talks were progressing well with both the sides working towards a fair and equitable deal. Speaking to Doordarshan in Berlin, Goyal said, “We are in dialogue with the US; our teams are engaged. We recently had the commerce secretary visit the US and meet his counterparts. We continue to engage with them and talks are progressing. We hope to work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future.” However, he reiterated that India “does not do deals with deadlines or with a gun to its head”. So far, India and the US have completed five rounds of talks. A team of Indian delegates from headed by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal visited Washington last week. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump met in February a target , was set to negotiate a bilateral trade deal by November. However, relations soured as Trump announced a 50% tariff on Indian goods from August onwards as a penalty for buying Russian oil. A US delegation’s visit to India was also cancelled. However, both sides continued talks. The momentum was restored when Brendan Lynch, assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia, met Indian officials in New Delhi. The proposed pact aims to double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. While the US remained India’s largest trading partner, merchandise exports to the US fell 20% to $5.43 billion in September from $6.87 billion in August. Reliance to comply with US sanctions Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s largest buyer of Russian oil and most impacted by the latest US sanctions, on Friday said it will comply with all applicable restrictions and will adjust its refinery operations to meet compliance requirements. A company spokesperson said RIL is “currently assessing the implications” of the latest sanctions on two Russian oil giants—one of which has a crude oil supply agreement with RIL P14 Raped, Harassed Doc names cops in palm note, ends life S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai A 28-year old woman doctor working at a government hospital in Phaltan in Satara district of Maharashtra died by suicide late on Thursday night and left a seven-line note on her palm, blaming two police inspectors for her harassment, torture and sexual exploitation. In the note, the doctor accused police sub-inspector Gopal Badane of raping her five times while police inspector Prashant Bankar harassed and mentally tortured her for four months. The note that was spotted during autopsy has been sent for forensic analysis. The victim had briefed her seniors about the harassment but could not get justice; hence she allegedly hanged herself in a hotel room near the Phaltan hospital. District police superintendent Tushar Doshi said a case has been registered against Badane and Bankar, and both placed under suspension. They are absconding. The victim’s relatives accused Badane and his associates of pressuring the doctor to alter medical reports on unnatural deaths and modify reports when arrested persons were brought to the hospital for a medical test. Besides, “one of members of Parliament and his personal assistant (PA) are also responsible for her death. The PA used to call her up and force her to tamper with autopsy reports. Her earlier complaints to seniors went unaddressed,” her brother alleged. Taliban to build dam to limit water to Pak J AYAN T H J A C O B @ New Delhi IN a move that could have farreaching consequences for Pakistan’s already strained water and energy security, Afghanistan’s Taliban government has said it will build a series of dams on the Kunar River. Taliban’s announcement comes on the heels of India’s decision in April to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack and signals Kabul’s determination to assert its ‘water sovereignty’. According to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Information, Taliban Supreme Leader Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada has ordered the Ministry of Water and Energy to begin dam construction on Kunar “as fast as possible” and award contracts to domestic firms. “The directive reflects Afghanistan’s right to manage its natural resources for the benefit of its people,” Deputy Minister of Information Muhajer Farahi said in a post on X. The decision comes just weeks after deadly clashes along the Durand Line between Afghan and Pakistani border forces, which left several dead and heightened diplomatic friction. Relations between the two countries deteriorated in recent months, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of harbouring Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants. The Kunar River, known as the Chitral in Pakistan, originates from the Chiantar glacier near the Gilgit-Baltistan-Chitral border. It flows into Afghanistan at Arandu before merging with the Kabul River in Nangarhar Province. Everyone’s man Piyush Pandey: The adman who spoke to India in its own language G u r b i r S i n g h @ Mumbai his creative skills dominated advertising in India for over three decades. He carried his walrus mustache, his broad grin and infectious sense of humour everywhere; but it was his pioneering effort in changing Indian advertising from borrowed Western idioms to campaigns rooted in the language of our streets and villages that made him a legend. Remember the Mile Sur Mera Mandar Pardikar P iyush Pandey was the odd man out at a RedInk Awards panel discussion soon after Prime Minister Modi was voted in for the first time in 2014. As an advertising creative executive, he didn’t fit into a panel of popular news anchors Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami, and Star chief Uday Shankar. Not surprisingly he drew fire , for his catch line: Aab ki Bar, Modi Sarkar — a slogan that moved the anti-incumbency wave. He laughed it off. “We have to deliver the message of our clients. We have nothing to do with politics.” Pandey’s creative campaigns for Ogilvy — the ad agency he started with in 1982 and ended his career and life with at 70 as Chief Creative Officer — grew it to an industry leader even as Piyush Pandey 5 Sept 1955-24 Oct 2025 Tumhara in 1988? It was a jingle for national integration written by him. It took the country by storm as it worked u p a p r i d e fo r u n i t y i n diversity . He also made some big brands daily, household names. Like his 1993 Cadbury’s campaign, Kuch Khaas Hai ham Sabhi Mein, which used local imagery to convince adults there is no sin in enjoying chocolates. The power of ‘gifting’ is an- other tack Pandey used successfully. He pushed Cadbury (now Mondalez) chocolates as a way to say thank you — Kuch Meetha Ho Jai; as he did with Titan timepieces — ‘The Joy of Gifting’. But who can ever forget Pandey’s incredibly creative Hutch (now Vodafone) campaign with the pug ZooZoo from 2010? The pug was used when ‘Hutch’ was transitioning to ‘Vodafone’; and in a quirky, simple manner the dog symbolised loyalty and connection. The pug campaign became so popular that for years the Chinese ‘pug’ breed became a favourite in India! For his contribution to advertising, Piyush Pandey was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016. He made his mark in advertising using a simple, storytelling style. As a person, he was never the corporate bigwig. An unkempt, easygoing guy he was everyone’s man. ,