fta with e.u. will be mother of all deals, says piyush goyal Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said negotiations with the 27-member European Union are in their last phase. The conclusion of the talks for the agreement between India and EU is likely to be announced on Jan 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 mangaluru l Saturday l January 17, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l city EDITION 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 BJP-led alliance wrests country’s richest civic body spotlight at Sabarimala S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai 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 in 25 years, the BMC could have a non-Shiv Sainik as mayor. However, the narrow majority could prod DCM Eknath Shinde’s Sena to lay claim to the post. In 2022, he became the surprise CM after toppling Uddhav government. “I am extremely grateful to my sisters and brothers of Mumbai for blessing the NDA,” PM Narendra Modi said. “Mumbai is the pride of our nation. It is the city of aspiration. It is a city that drives our growth,” he said. In BMC polls, BJP won 89 seats against the previous tally of 82, while Uddhav’s Sena won 65 against the 84 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 29 civic body polls, 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 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 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 poll. AIMIM won in Malegaon civic body against Shiv Sena. BJP’s win in most of the civic bodies is a stamp on the leadership of incumbent CM Devendra Fadnavis. He steered 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 polls. As for the Opposition, it needs to introspect how to fight against BJP effectively Lazy armchair . approach will not work against a party that does 24/7 politics with a mega poll machinery . 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 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 detected in the manner the TDB staff intervened in several ritu- express exclusive als 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 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 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 probe into temporary appointments at Sabarimala, pointing out that many individuals have been engaged on a temporary basis over the past decade. 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 RCB proposes AI cameras at Chinnaswamy Stadium E x p r e s s N e 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 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 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 potential opera- tion, which is estimated to be around Rs 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 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 Karna, taka 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.