BHUBANESWAR l Saturday l October 25, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 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 Negotiations concluded, both sides working on the language of the bilateral agreement P U S H P I TA D E Y @ New Delhi 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 P10 Kurnool Bus Tragedy Bus hit a bike and dragged it Twenty people, including two children and a biker, along, were charred to death, and several others injured sparks when an AC sleeper bus from Hyderabad to Bengaluru caught fire on NH 44 near Chinnatekuru ignited the village in Kurnool district around 3 am Friday | P5 deadly fire 20 charred Taliban to build dam to limit water to Pak dered 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 J AYA N 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 or- 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, which eventually joins the Indus River near Attock in Pakistan. This network is vital for irrigation, hydropower, and drinking water across Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces. Any reduction in flow could have cascading effects across Pakistan’s agricultural and energy sectors. According to B M Samantrai, inspector-in-charge of Chandanpur police station, the accused are resiIN a shocking incident, two youths dents of the same area. Sources allegedly gangraped a minor girl in said one of the suspects was nursher house in a village under Puri’s ing a grudge against the victim for Chandanpur police limits late on lending her mobile phone to his Thursday . sister to help communicate When the incident took with a male friend. place, the 16-year-old vicMeanwhile, the BJD contim’s younger sister was demned the incident in present in the house but strong words and said the their parents had gone out shocking crime has once to witness the immersion again exposed the comceremony of Kali Puja. plete collapse of law and Puri SP Prateek Singh order in Odisha. Party said the incident occurred spokesperson Lenin Moat about 2 am when the Immediately after a hanty said the enforcecomplaint was victim was alone with her ment machinery in the lodged, police seven-year-old sibling in state has failed and the their house in Biranaras- rounded up the two fear of law has disapsuspects and they inghpur village. The two peared, while criminals are being youths, taking advantage operate with impunity . interrogated of the absence of the girls’ Mohanty alleged after parents, barged into their Prateek Singh, Puri SP the double engine governhouse and committed the ment assumed charge, crime. women have become unsafe even “Immediately after a complaint within their homes because of weak was lodged, police rounded up the p o l i c i n g a n d p o o r l a w two suspects and they are being in- enforcement. terrogated,” Singh said adding that Expressing deep anguish, Moa case of gangrape has been regis- hanty held the state government tered. The victim’s medical exami- responsible for the growing crimes nation will be conducted on Satur- against women. The politicisation day. The district child welfare of the police force has eroded public committee (CWC) has been asked to trust and emboldened criminals, he take care of her. added. @ Bhubaneswar The adman who spoke to India in its own language M andar Par dika r 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 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 Tumhara in 1988? It was a jingle for national integration written by him. It took the country by storm as it worked up a pride for unity in diversity . He also made some big brands daily household names. Like his , 1993 Cadbury’s campaign, Kuch Khaas Hai ham Sabhi Mein, S udhi r S u r ya w anshi @ Mumbai E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e P i y us h P a n d e y G u r b i r S ingh @ Mumbai Doc names cops in palm note, ends life 16-yr-old girl gangraped by neighbours in house in Puri, two detained Piyush Pandey 5 Sept 1955-24 Oct 2025 which used local imagery to convince adults there is no sin in enjoying chocolates. The power of ‘gifting’ is another tack Pandey used successfully . He pushed Cadbury (now Mon- dalez) 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. , BJP scores surprise win in 1 seat, NC bags 3 in RS polls The BJP on Friday pulled off an unexpected victory in one of the four Rajya Sabha seats from J&K, while the ruling NC won the remaining three | P8 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.