BHUBANESWAR l thursday l january 29, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Potential bidders for RCB as Rajasthan valued at over $1 bn representative image $2 billion buzz on bengaluru’s future As RCB are one of the most valuable franchises, companies hoping to buy them will have to shell out top dollar. Several reports suggest $2bn but that figure may not be hit. While several Indian companies have shown interest, including vaccine giant, Serum, other names includes Temasek (Singapore), US based businessman, David Blitzer After months of speculation, reports suggest that over 50 companies have showed an interest in acquiring defending IPL champions 4 potential buyers for Rajasthan royals ■ ■ Rajasthan Royals have received a few proposals and the franchise is studying them. The cheapest franchise when they were bought in 2008, it’s expected that any deal will fetch them over a billion. American investor Kal Somani, Times Internet Group, Blackstone and Carlyl Group are reportedly interested in buying the team $1.3bn Four RR bidders have offered as initial bids 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 Maha shocker as Ajit Pawar dies in jet crash Industrial activity Four others including two pilots perish; state’s ruling coalition in turmoil; last rites to be held today in Baramati poor visibility, later cleared to laND 1 Ajit Pawar was a leader of the people... his passion for empowering the poor were noteworthy. His untimely demise is saddening A stand was floated from Kolkata that there is politics involved in this incident. There is no politics in it. It was an accident Narendra Modi, Prime Minister The aircraft VI-SSK was trying to land amid poor visibility. It first came in contact with Baramati Air Traffic Controller at 8.18 am 2 Its next call was at 30 nautical miles inbound to Baramati; advised to descend in “visual meteorological conditions” at the pilot’s discretion 3 On first approach to Runway 11, pilot said the runway was not visible and initiated a go-around. On second attempt, the airstrip was spotted 4 The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 11 at 8.43 am, but failed to respond to Baramati ATC. Next minute, it was up in flames Sharad Pawar, NCP chief Aeroplane crashes near runway Crash site fatal landings Ajit Pawar Sanjay Gandhi (1980) Congress leader; died June 23 in a plane crash near Safdarjung Airport, Delhi Madhavrao Scindia (2001) Senior Congress leader died Sept 30 in plane crash near Mainpuri, UP Lok Sabha Speaker; died March 3 in helicopter crash in Krishna district, AP AP CM; died September 2 in helicopter crash in Nallamala forest First CDS; died Dec 8 in Mi-17V5 crash near Coonoor, TN (14 fatalities) 22 July 1959 - 28 January 2026 G M C Balayogi (2002) Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (2009) Gen Bipin Rawat (2021) Baramati airstrip Vijay Rupani (2025) Ex-Gujarat CM; died June 12 in Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad (270 total deaths) su d hir suryawanshi @ Mumbai MAHARASHTRA Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others were killed when their chartered aircraft crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati airstrip in Pune district on Wednesday morning. FlightRadar data showed the aircraft departed Mumbai at 8.10 am and disappeared from radar shortly after 8.44 am. The 66-year-old leader, fondly known as Dada (elder brother), was flying from Mumbai to address zilla parishad election rallies near Pune, when the Learjet 45 crashed during a second landing attempt at 8.44 am. Poor visibility forced the pilot to abort the first approach, but moments after receiving clearance for the second attempt, the aircraft burst into flames near the runway threshold without providing the mandatory readback to air traffic control. Also killed were Captain Sumit Kapoor, co-pilot Shambhavi Pathak, Pawar’s personal security officer Vidit Jadhav, and flight attendant Pinki Mali. All five were declared dead at Baramati hospital. Eyewitnesses described watching the aircraft circle the airfield before it “hit the ground hard and exploded,” with the blast heard across the area. Aviation experts said the tragedy could have been avoided if the runway had been equipped with an instrument landing system to guide pilots through marginal visibility . The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is analysing the black box to determine the exact cause. NCP founder Sharad Pawar, Ajit’s uncle, rushed to Baramati where he said, Ajit’s loss is one “that can never be filled”. Chief Minister Devendra Fad- navis declared three days of state mourning and called Ajit’s death a personal loss, describing him as a “trusted friend.” Ajit Pawar served as deputy CM for a record six terms across governments led by Congress, Shiv Sena, and BJP. After splitting from his uncle’s party in July 2023, he secured 41 assembly seats in alliance with the BJP solidifying , his position in state politics. His last rites will be held on Thursday at Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati with full state honours. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend.  P8 grew at its fastest pace in 2 yrs in Dec EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi india’s industrial activity galloped in December last with the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth accelerating to 7.8% from 7.2% in November 2025, marking the fastest pace in the last 26 months, government data released on Wednesday showed. The manufacturing sector, which has a 77.6% weight in the index, grew 8.1%, slightly slower than 8.5% in November 2025 but higher than 3.7% in December 2024. The sector was supported by 6.8% growth in mining and 6.3% rise in electricity generation. Observing that the growth in factory output in December last exceeded expectations, ICRA’s chief economist Aditi Nayar said the surprise was largely driven by the manufacturing output. She said the growth in this crucial sector was “likely aided by restocking post the festive season, even as the growth in India’s non-oil exports was sluggish in the month”. Within the manufacturing sector, the computer, electronic & optical products category grew 34.9% while the motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers segment surged 33.5%. Dipti Deshpande, principal economist at Crisil, said that within manufacturing, GST rationalisation is likely to have benefited sectors like representative image food products and automobiles, but export-oriented sectors such as apparel, textiles and chemicals saw moderate IIP growth. As per the use-based classification, primary goods and consumer sectors provided traction. Consumer durables rose 12.3% and non-durables surged 8.3%. Deshpande said that going forward, while domestic tailwinds should support demand in consumer segments for a few more quarters, the adverse impact of higher US tariffs on export segments could get more pronounced. However, a trade deal with the US, reducing the tariff to closer to levels faced by peers, could help matters, she added. IIP growth accelerated to a 6-quarter high of 5.2% in Q3 FY2026 from 4.3% in Q2, reflecting the improvement in the performance of the manufacturing and mining sectors. Govt nets investment intent of No to cricket, but B’desh shooters set for India visit `52K cr at Enterprise Odisha in d raneel d as @ Chennai DAYS after the Bangladesh cricket team was replaced by Scotland after they refused to travel to India citing security reasons, their shooting team, comprising of two shooters and other support staff, have seemingly confirmed their participation at the Asian Shooting Championships, to be held in Delhi from February 2 to 14. P R A S A N J E E T S A R K A R @ Rourkela Twenty-two MoUs worth `43,349 crore were signed and five investment intents were received as Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi chaired three important roundtables at the Enterprise Odisha 2026 here on Wednesday . The chief minister joined roundtable discussions with the Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Orissa Sponge Iron Manufacturing Association (OSIMA). He also held a special interaction with delegations from Ranchi and Raipur. The roundtables yielded total investment intents to the tune of `52,026 crore with employment opportunities for 20,427 people. The discussions with the investors from Ranchi and Raipur marked growing interest in the Raipur-Ranchi-Rourkela (RRR) Corridor and regional collaborations. On the occasion, Majhi also inaugurated 11 industrial projects with an investment of `5,708.00 crore, generating employment for 4,183 people. Nine Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi chairing the industry roundtable at the Enterprise Odisha-2026 in Rourkela on Wednesday | express Prez talks about VB-G RAM G, Oppn livid Western Odisha is no longer the ‘next frontier’ of growth. It is a core engine of Odisha’s development. We will be the best, and we will compete with the best – Mohan Charan Majhi, Chief Minister projects worth `3,176.00 crore also grounded. These projects will create employment for 2,649 people and play a key role in providing momentum to the process of industrialisation in the region. The CM also handed over the letter offering 1,447.927 acre of land at Kamakhyanagar to Vedanta Aluminium Ltd for its proposed 3 million tonne per Two of their shooters — Shaira Arefin and Md Robiul Islam — are set to take part in the individual as well as mixed team in the 10m air rifle category The two have been given . clearance by the ministries concerned and the Indian High Commission in Dhaka has been requested to help them with visa formalities. This was confirmed by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) as well. Its secre- annum (MTPA) aluminium smelter and 4,900 MW captive power plant project. Approved by the 41st High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA), the project was put on fast-track by the government. Inaugurating the 25th edition of Enterprise Odisha, Majhi said Western Odisha is no longer the ‘next frontier’ of Continued on P5 growth.  President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday urged parliamentarians to stand united on the resolve for Viksit Bharat campaign for swadeshi as well as national security, even as her reference to the VB-G RAM G Act, sparked sloganeering and protests from the opposition parties | P7 SC to list plea against UGC norms on caste discrimination S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to list for hearing a plea challenging the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) controversial new regulations meant to address caste-based discrimination in universities and colleges. The plea by Rahul Diwan challenges the UGC’s Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Regulations, 2026 on the grounds that caste-based discrimination is defined as discrimination only against members of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The lawyer appearing for petitioner Diwan and others sought an urgent hearing of the plea, arguing that the new regulations overlook the possibility of discrimination against those from general or non-reserved categories. “There is a possibility of discrimination against the general class. My case is Rahul Diwan and others versus the Union,” the lawyer submitted. Responding to Diwan’s prayer, the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, said: “We know what is happening. Make sure the defects are cured. We will list it.” The new UGC regulations, which mandate all higher education institutions to constitute “equity committees” to look into complaints of discrimination and promote equity were notified on Jan, uary 13. Two other pleas have already been filed in the top court challenging the notification on similar grounds, alleging the exclusion of certain categories from institutional protection. A plea filed by Vineet Jindal sought a direction from the apex court restraining the Centre and the UGC from enforcing or acting upon the new regulations in its current, exclusionary form. Protests against the new rules intensified in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesd a y, with large-scale demonstrations in Deoria. tary Rajiv Bhatia, while speak, ing with this daily, said that they have sought all clearances from ministries and as of now their counterparts in Bangladesh have confirmed participation. “They have confirmed and are coming for the championships,” he said. “We have sought clearance from Ministry of External Affairs, Home and sports ministries. We are in touch with Bangladesh team and players. They have confirmed participation and are coming. As of now there is no change.” Interestingly, the cricket team refused to travel to India days after BCCI directed Kolkata Knight Riders to drop Mustafizur Rahman from the roster. Reports in Bangladesh indicate the team has got government nod as well. Refusal to travel might incur the wrath of international shooting federation (ISSF) as well as the International Olympic Committee.