NDA sitting pretty seats 243 Target 122 tirupati l wednesday l november 12, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l anantapur EDITION Polls suggest exit of Oppn aspirations PR E E T H A N A IR @ New Delhi AS the high-stakes Bihar assembly election came to a close on Tuesday, pollsters were unanimous in predicting the National Democratic Alliance’s return to power with a convincing majority If the predic. tions stand, it will be a huge setback for the Opposition’s Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), which was trying to win the politically crucial state after a gap of 20 years. The poll of exit polls projected the NDA comprising Janata Trump says levy cut soon; India waits for US word Dal United JD (U), the BJP and the LJP(RV) , will cross the majority mark by securing 148 seats, giving the RJD-led grand alliance just 88 seats, less than the 110 seats it won in the 2020 election. The majority mark for the 243-seat assembly is 122. Election strategist Prashant Kishore’s Jan Suraaj Party which was hyped to play , a crucial role in this election, may end up with a poor showing, as per exit polls. The Bihar polls were conducted in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the results will be out on November 14. The results will also Source NDA Chanakya Strategies 130-138 A day after US President Donald Trump said that Washington is ‘pretty close’ to signing a trade deal with India, which would also pave the way for lowering tariffs on Indian goods, sources in Delhi said the trade talks have been so comprehensive that another round of negotiations may not be necessary . Commerce ministry officials said New Delhi is awaiting a response from Washington on the bilateral trade agreement talks. “They (US) h ave t o g e t back to us. India’s negotiations have been the most comprehensive and WTO-compliant as com pared to any US President Donald Trump other country. Ne gotiations have been done cautiously and carefully keeping the sensitive , sectors in mind.” The ministry’s update came a day after Trump said the deal would soon be sealed, which would enhance the bilateral relations, boost US energy exports and promote investments in key US sectors. According to US media reports, Trump also signalled that the tariffs on Indian goods would be lowered. “The tariffs on India are really high because of the Russian oil [imports], but they have now substantially reduced Russian oil [imports], so we will be bringing the tariffs down,” Trump was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that while India wants a fair trade deal with the US, it won’t compromise on the interests of farmers and the dairy sector. 100-108 0-0  3-5 145-160 73-91 0-3  5-7 DV Research 137-152 83-98 2-4  1-8 JVC 135-150 88-103 0-1  3-6 Matrize 147-167 70-90 0-2  2-8 P-Marq 142-162 80-98 1-4  0-3 Peoples Insight 133-148 87-102 0-2  3-6 TIF Research 145-163 76-95 0  3-6 Peoples Pulse 133-159 75-101 0-5  2-8 148 90 1 5 Poll of Polls 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 ■ ■ set the tone for the upcoming assembly elections in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu next year as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls has already begun in these states. Bihar is the first state to go to polls after the SIR exercise. Exit poll projections are made by election survey agencies based on interviews of voters as they come out after casting their votes. These may vary widely from the actual results. Illustration: sourav roy l Intercepted letter from Nowgam proves key link l Suspects may be ‘linked’ to Faridabad terror module: l Jaish hand evident, say officials Blast probe handed over to NIA Umar Mohammad Nabi, Pulwama doctor in the photo: pti M u k e s h Ran j an , F aya z Wan i & N am i ta B a j pa i THE investigation into the deadly car blast near Delhi’s Red Fort on November 10 that killed 12 people was on Tuesday formally handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), following high-level security meetings chaired by home minister Amit Shah. Security agencies, working in coordination with state police across J&K, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, launched extensive search operations on Tuesday and found multiple leads linked to the banned Pakistanbased Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit. Preliminary investigations revealed incriminating JeM internal communications that suggest ‘revenge’ as the motive for internal disloyalty. An intercepted letter recovered in J&K’s Nowgam, believed to have originated from the Pakistan-based outfit, threatens punishment for ‘betrayals’ within JeM, exhibiting rhetoric consistent with earlier internal directives. Senior intelligence officials suggest that factional pressure and infighting within JeM could have precipitated the Delhi blast, following counter-insurgency activity in Kashmir. Umar Mohammad Nabi Car track Charred remains of vehicles on Tuesday, following the deadly blast near Red Fort Metro Station the previous night that killed 12 people in New Delhi; and a forensic official collects samples from the site a day after the explosion | Shekhar yadav The police registered a case headlined ‘bomb blast’ invoking sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosive Substances Act, after forensics teams began analysing specimens from the site and vehicle to match those from the deceased. Investigators are scrutinising CCTV footage and digital devices and matching DNA samples to ascertain the identity of the car’s occupants. Early findings indicate the use of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil as the explosive material, and a possible operational link to the Faridabad module, from which Booker Prize to Hungarian-British author David Szalay Szalay’s novel Flesh won the prize (£50,000 and a trophy), beating Indian author Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny | P9 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kanigiri 350 kg of explosives and a cache of weapons were seized. Several individuals associated with the accused doctors from Kashmir, notably Dr Umar Nabi and Dr Muzammil Ganaie and Dr Adeel Ahmed, have been detained for questioning in coordinated raids in Pulwama, Srinagar, Faridabad, and parts of western Uttar Pradesh. In UP ATS teams car, ried out raids in Saharanpur, Lucknow and Muzaffarnagar, detaining individuals connected to the JeM module. In Srinagar, at least eight persons including father, mother and two brothers of Dr Umar Nabi, who is suspected of driving the car that exploded,were detained. Security has been ramped up at sensitive locations, including Ayodhya. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently in Thimpu on an official visit, said: “The conspirators will not be spared.” India hit out at Pakistan for attempting to link New Delhi to the terrorist attack in Islamabad on Tuesday, calling the charge “baseless, unfounded, and a predictable tactic.” Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif alleged India’s role in a suicide bombing that killed 12 people in Islamabad. SIT grills ex-TTD Addl EO in ghee adulteration case E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tirupati The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has ramped up its probe into the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) ghee adulteration case, unravelling a deep-rooted conspiracy involving multiple suppliers. , Following the arrest of Ajay Kumar Suganda (A16), a Delhi-based trader, SIT summoned former TTD Additional Executive Of ficer AV Dharma Reddy for questioning at its Alipiri office in Tirupati on Tuesday . Dharma Reddy appeared before SIT, and was questioned for 11 hours in two spells (9 am to 2 pm and 3 to 9 pm) by CBI DIG Murali Rambha and his team. Presenting documentary evidence, the probe team reportedly questioned him extensively pertaining to the ghee procurement tender process. After questioning, Dharma Reddy left the SIT office without P4 interacting with the media.  express read `1,595-cr investment boost to AP with Syrma SGS’s project Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu examines the layout at the inauguration of MSME park at Pedairlapadu in Kanigiri Assembly constituency on Tuesday | Express conference to get a feedback. Speaking ahead of the upcoming CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam on November 14 and 15, he announced that 99 companies are launching operations, bringing in middle of the ‘car bomb’ N i t i n Ra w at @ New Delhi CM Naidu launches 49 MSME parks, 70 more to be grounded in January Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated a new MSME industrial park at Pedairlapadu in Kanigiri Assembly constituency of Prakasam district on Tuesday . He also virtually launched 49 MSME parks across 17 districts, marking a major push towards decentralised industrial development in Andhra Pradesh. These parks, being developed under a plug-and-play model across all 175 Assembly constituencies in the State, are meant to attract investments, and generate employment by offering ready-to-use infrastructure. The newly launched MSME parks span 868 acres, involving an investment of `873 crore, with foundation stones laid for 1,597 units. Additionally he vir, tually inaugurated 38 mega industrial units set up with `25,256 crore investment. Naidu virtually interacted with industrialists from industrial parks in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Anakapalli, Kurnool, Anantapur and Chittoor districts during a video JSP OTH Dainik Bhaskar @ New Delhi/Srinagar/Lucknow P U S H PI TA D E Y @ New Delhi MGB `2.65 lakh crore investments, and creating over two lakh jobs. He revealed plans to launch 70 MSME parks in January, and emphasised the goal of nurturing at least one entrepreneur in P4 every household.  Vijayawada: As Syrma SGS set to invest `1,595 crore to set up a plant near Naidupeta, HRD and IT Minister N Lokesh mentioned in a post on ‘X’, “This is not just an investment; it’s a vote of confidence in our people.” | P4 CM urges Centre to act fast on Cyclone Montha damage report Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday urged the Central team to submit a swift report, and recommend generous financial aid to AP, which suffered `6,384 crore loss due to Cyclone Montha | P4 Umar’s i20 first spotted outside Asian hospital in Faridabad around 7.30 am on Monday Car entered Delhi after crossing the Badarpur toll plaza at 8.13 am Seen near a petrol pump in the Okhla Industrial Area at 8.20 am At 3.19 pm, car entered parking lot near the Red Fort complex, stayed there for 3 hrs Exited at 6.22 pm, drove toward Red Fort; blast at 6.52 pm A day after the Red Fort blast, which killed 12 people and injured more than 20, investigators are focusing on Umar Mohammad Nabi, a Pulwama-born medical professional suspected to have been behind the wheel of the white Hyundai i20 that exploded near Gate No. 1 of the Lal Qila Metro Station. According to officials familiar with the probe, Umar is suspected to have links with the radicalised white-collar module busted in Faridabad, in a joint operation by the J&K Police and Haryana’s Special Task Force. The operation led to the arrest of eight individuals, including three doctors, and the seizure of 2,900 kg of explosive-making material from multiple locations in Haryana. Umar, a resident of Koil village in Pulwama, was allegedly in touch with members of the same Faridabad module, according to sources. CCTV footage shows a man with a mask at the wheel of the car before the blast. Tracing the ownership of the i20 provided the breakthrough that led investigators to the Faridabad module. The car was initially registered in the name of Salman. He sold it to Devender, who later sold it to Taariq, based in Pulwama. While tracking Taariq, investigators found the white i20 was with Nabi. The police said specialised teams, including crime units, are collecting forensic evidence from the site. Raids have been carried out across the National Capital Region, with security checks in Daryaganj, Paharganj, railway stations, airports, and bus terminals. Investigators said the Pulwama-Faridabad connection is the key line of inquiry .