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OUTSIDE MUMBAI, NEW MUMBAI & THANE ` 2REG. NO. MH/MR/SOUTH-105/2012-14; RNI NO. 1541/57M.P.C.S office Mumbai-400001

VOL. 57 NO. 285 | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 11, 2013 | 20 PAGES EDITIONS : MUMBAI* , PUNE, INDORE, BHOPALwww.freepressjournal.in

WEATHER

33.00C. 20.00C.Sunrise: 7.01 am Sunset : 6.02 pm

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

"Health is not the mereabsence of disease,

health is being established in the self."

— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

SUNNYLEONE BACK

IN BIGG BOSS HOUSESEE GLAM

● Last word

● ARUP CHANDAKolkata

Even as the BJP and the Tri-namool Congress stepped uptheir demand for resignation of

West Bengal Human Rights Commis-sion chairman Ashok Ganguly, he re-fused to oblige and in fact received ashot in the arm from former LokSabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.Attending a function to mark theWorld Human Rights Day at the Cal-cutta High Court on Tuesday

evening, Ganguly, in his speech, citedMahatma Gandhi and Nelson Man-dela and said like them he too wouldcarry forward his struggle for theprotection of human rights.

Ganguly, indicted by a three-mem-ber panel of Supreme Court judgesfor allegedly sexually harassing a fe-male law intern, spoke at lengthabout the necessity of human rightsbodies and the related provisions inthe Constitution.He earlier remarked: "I will not re-sign. Please do not disturb me."Somnath Chatterjee, who was guestof honour at the function, stood byhis former lawyer friend and said hedid not believe the charges against

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Former Speaker comes to Ganguly’s defence

Hundreds of world leaders on Tuesday gathered in Johannesburg's FNB Stadium forNelson Mandela's memorial service. Barack Obama paid tribute to anti-apartheid icon,saying: ''We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again.'' Then, taking a cue fromMandela, who was known as father of forgiveness, Obama shook hands with Cuba'sRaul Castro on his way to the podium. It was a historic gesture of reconciliation, whichshows that the two presidents are ready to improve ties between their countries. Cubaand the U.S. were extremely close for decades, before an army led by Fidel Castro andChe Guevara overthrew the government of the island nation in 1959. After Fidel resigned as president in 2008 due to ill health, there were hopes that his brother Raulmight prove less hostile to the US, but relations do not seem to have thawed until today.

● FPJ NEWS SERVICENew Delhi

The Supreme Court on Tues-day ruled that only personsholding constitutional postscould use the read beacon,which gives them the right ofthe way on the road.Constitutional authoritiesinclude the President, Prime

Minister, cabinet ministers,governors, the Chief Justiceof India, Supreme Courtjudges and the heads of bothhouses of Parliament.The court has further di-rected the government tocome out within threemonths a fresh list of consti-tutional authorities. Whichare entitled to use the beacon.

This will prevent its misuseby local politicians, whoflaunt it as a status symbol.The bench also said barredstate governments from en-larging the list of VIPs eligi-ble for red beacon. It also saidthat ambulances, police andemergency services coulduse the blue beacon.The court also put a restric-

tion on multi-tune horns say-ing they be removed from allvehicles, including heavy ve-hicles. The bench has directed allstates and Central govern-ment to bring in a law on thisin a month's time.Welcoming the ruling, Jam-mu and Kashmir Chief Min-ister Omar Abdullah tweeted

after the court directive, "It'samazing how some peopleare married to this symbol ofpower. If the PM doesn't needa red beacon, why shouldanyone else? I look forwardto instructing my people toremove red beacons from myofficial vehicles also now. "The court had earlier called

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Red beacon only for Constitutional posts, rules apex court

SC red light to red beacon

Polls or party:Dilemma forCongress MPs● FROM ANIL SHARMANew Delhi

After the recent drubbing,the elected MPs of the Con-gress, who have organisa-tional responsibilities, arefacing the dilemma -- shouldthey stick to party work orgo back to their constituen-cies, given the short timethat is left for the polls?At least four MPs from Ma-harashtra -- Mukul Wasnikfrom Ramtek, and the threeMumbai MPs -- Sanjay Niru-pam, Priya Dutt and Guru-das Kamat have major orga-nizational responsibilitiesand they would like some im-mediate clarity on this issue.Other leaders like Digvi-jaya Singh from MadhyaPradesh, C P Joshi from Ra-jasthan and Shakeel Ahmadfrom Bihar, who are current-ly general secretaries incharge for several states, alsohave plans to contest LokSabha elections from theirconstituencies, and wouldalso need similar clarity.The issue assumes signifi-cance as at the Jaipur brain-storming session thatmarked the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi'sdebut earlier this year therewas a strong suggestion thatpersons holding the posts ofthe state unit presidents andgeneral secretaries should

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● FROM OUR DELHI BUREAUNew Delhi

The recent election successstory -- the Aam Aadmi Party-- seems to be enjoying thecurrent wooing season, butshowing no signs of anyhaste to fall into the arms ofeither the semi-winnerBharatiya Janata Party orthe complete loser Congress.But there is no dearth of ad-vice. Congress general secre-tary Digvijay Singh has sug-gested to the AAP that itshould join hands with theBJP to form the governmentwith a common agenda. Hepicked up this suggestionfrom retired IPS officer KiranBedi, who was also a memberof Team Anna at the time ofthe Lokpal agitation thatformed the genesis of AAP."Both the AAP and the BJP

have the mandate," Bedi hadobserved.On the other end, the Con-gress general secretary in-charge for Delhi affairs, Sha-keel Ahmed, has offered tosupport AAP unconditional-ly. But so far, AAP founderArvind Kejriwal has main-tained that the party wouldneither ''offer nor take'' sup-port from both the parties.Though the delay in gov-ernment formation has notbeen excessive, both theAAP and the BJP are begin-ning to feel that instead ofgoing into a governmentwith built in instability, afresh round of electionswithin the next six months,along with the general elec-tions, could be an option.Kejriwal has already ruledout giving any support to the

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Congress plays mind games with KejriwalWill AAP take the bait?

● STAFF REPORTER Mumbai

The Maharashtra govern-ment on Tuesday told theBombay High Court that itwould table the Adarsh in-quiry commission reportduring the ongoing winterassembly session.The court was hearing a pe-

tition filed by BJP MLA fromKandivli, Yogesh Sagar, andparty spokesperson and for-mer MLA from Khetwadi,Atul Shah, seeking a direc-tion to the government totable the report before thelegislature.Appearing for the petition-er, senior counsel MaheshJethmalani argued that the

Public Accounts Committeeon Monday submitted its re-port to Parliament and henceeven the state governmentshould table its report."The government has spentover Rs 7 crore on the com-mission. It was set up as aneyewash and now by nottabling the report they are

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Adarsh report to be tabled in Winter Session

Govt will pushLokpal Bill

As Anna Hazarebegan an indefinitefast in his village in

Maharashtra, demandingthe urgent introduction ofa new anti-corruption law,in Delhi, the UPAgovernment said that it iscommitted to pushingthrough the legislation --the Lokpall Bill -- in thissession of Parliamentwhich ends on December20. Union Minister forPersonnel VNarayanasamy made theannouncement. Thecontroversial bill, whichwas passed by the Lok

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● OUR CORRESPONDENTGandhinagar/Mumbai

Aam Aadmi Party's stunningelectoral performance in Del-hi has encouraged its Guja-rat unit to decide upon field-ing its candidates in theforthcoming Loksabha elec-tion in 2014.According to the GujaratConvenor of AAP, SukhdevPatel, the party will field can-didates in the Lok Sabha

election from Gujarat aswell. "Once we have steppedinto politics full time, wehave to be a part of the elec-toral process," Patel saidadding that the decision onthe number of candidates

and identification of seatswill be made in the party ex-ecutive meeting scheduledfor this weekend.AAP in Gujarat has alreadyestablished offices in 19 dis-tricts and is on its way tomark its presence in the restof the districts as well."Apart from adhering to thebasic organizational disci-pline, the district comm-it-tees are largely autonomous

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AAP now eyeing Gujarat, Mumbai Mani Shankar saysCong will lose in 2014● FPJ NEWS SERVICENew Delhi

After the humiliating defeat,disgruntled Congressmenare coming out of the closetand demanding a revamp.The latest to join the band-wagon of so-called reformistsis senior Congress leaderMani Shankar Aiyar, whosaid on Tuesday that the decision to name Manmohan

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