KMC to set up temporary toilets in the areas with maximum footfall
Statesman News Service
Kolkata, 6 August
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has taken initiatives to set up around 250 temporary green toilets in various places in the city during Durga Puja this year.
The Bustee Unayan Department in KMC has come up with this unique idea of setting up temporary green toilets in the important areas of the city which record the maximum number of footfall during the Puja days.
Sources in the department said the model project has been taken up as an experiment basis and the success of the project will allow the department to install mobile toilets in the Brigade area during public gathering and in the social and religious programmes in various parts of the city.
Senior officials in the department believe that this will help large number of people who come to the city in social and political occasions. It has been noticed in the previous years during Durga Puja that people from the distant places and suburbs face problems as there is scarcity of public toilets in the city. As a result, the visitors have to walk miles to use a public toilet especially during the puja days.
Nearly, 250 green toilets will be set up near the big budget and traditional puja pandals, at an approximate cost of R 20-25 lakh, said a senior official in the Bustee Unayan department. Officials will hold meetings with the puja organisers to decide on the places, where the toilets would be installed.
Mr Swapan Samaddar, MMIC, Bustee Development said: “We have already sent our proposal to the Works Committee of the KMC. The committee will soon submit us a report on the project, following which the tender will be floated.
“We have sent letters to the chairmen of the bureau committees to identify the places where the green toilets could be set up. We will also talk to the puja organisers on this matter,” he said.

Statesman News Service
Kolkata, 6 August
The Darjeeling district magistrate has been transferred today even as the bandh called by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha for a separate state of Gorkhaland entered its fourth day. 
Mr Soumitra Mohan, DM Darjeeling, has been transferred to Burdwan. He has been replaced by Mr Puneet Yadav, secretary of finance department 
This is considered an important move at a time when the indefinite bandh has paralysed life in the Hills.
State Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee and senior police officers left for Darjeeling yesterday to take stock of the law and order situation there and a series of high-level meetings were held with police and district administration officials today.   
Meanwhile, Ms Nandini Chatterjee, the information and cultural affairs secretary who had been appointed the editor of the West Bengal State Gazetter ~ a post which had till then been held by a WBCS officer ~ has finally been appointed the Sunderban affairs secretary. 
Mr Ashis Thakur, secretary of Transport Department, has been appointed food processing industries and horticulture secretary.
In a major reshuffle after the panchayat elections, the state government today issued a notification for transferring a total of 23 officers of the IAS cadre. 
Howrah DM Mr Santanu Basu has been transferred to South 24-Parganas. He will be replaced by Mr Subhanjan Das.  
Mr G A Ansari, Purulia DM, has been appointed as the DM of West Midnapore. 
Mr Surendra Gupta, DM of East Midnapore, has been appointed as CEO of KMDA and Ms Smaraki Mahapatra has been appointed as excise commissioner. 
Mr Tanmoy Chakraborti has been appointed Purulia district magistrate, Mr Ratnakar Rao will be Murshidabad DM, Mrs Pritha Sarkar will be  Jalpaiguri DM, Mr Tapas Chowdhury will be DM, South Dinajpur, and Ms Antara Acharya will be East Midnapore DM. 
Mr Narayan Nigam Swarup has been appointed managing director of WBSEDCL.
Mr Deb Kumar Chakraborty has been transferred to the Finance Department, Mr Rajeev Kumar to Animal Resource Development, Mr Anurag Shrivastava to finance, Mr Rajesh Pandey to sports, Mr Onkar Singh Meena to health  and Mr P A Siddiqui to Minority Affairs Department.   

BDA signs MOu with Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Bhubaneswar, 6 August
Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) entered with an agreement with Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for implementation of town planning scheme here today.
 “Cooperation of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation will benefit BDA in achieving the objectives of planned development. The MoU is an initiative in this direction,” said housing and urban development minister Mr Debi Prasad Mishra.
 As a pilot project, 1200 acres of land in Madanpur and Jagsara mouzas on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar will be taken up for town planning (TP) scheme.
 Ahmedabad is the leader in implementation of highest number of TP schemes for decades. Their rich experience and intend to share this, can adopt for planned development of Bhubaneswar, he added.
 “BDA takes up planned development through comprehensive development plan and zonal development plans. In order to regulate development and use of land different schemes are prepared. So far, schemes are mostly implemented over government land or acquired private land. The difficulty in land acquisition process can be overcome through public participation of land owners. In a market framework distribution of cost and sharing of benefits can be made and planned neighborhoods can be ensured legally through TP schemes,” Mr Mishra said. 
 TP Scheme is legally prepared by a public agency over an area notifying land owners for reconstitution of plots with provision of developed land; appropriate land for city and  neighborhood infrastructure, where portion of the land is contributed for roads and public infrastructure and the owner gets part of the area in developed condition.  “It is profoundly a pragmatic approach as property rights are respected; costs are distributed among owners proportionate to land; benefits are shared; portion of increment in land value given to owners and developed land. In this way planning orient to land market, where public participation is ensured through consultative meetings and sharing of reconstituted land,” the minister maintained. 
 The prime objective of development authorities is planned development of urban expansion leading to organized growth. It involves compulsory acquisition of peripheral private land. The process so far is difficult, time consuming and often leading to litigations. Some states, particularly, Gujarat, have shown the way out of the acquisition process by adopting town planning schemes, he added.
  The MoU was signed between planning member, BDA Dr Pitabasa Sahoo and deputy town development officer Mr Vatsal Patel, AMC. Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, development commissioner Mr I Srinivash, commissioner, AMC Mr Guru Prasasd Mohapatra and vice chairman, BDA Mr Bishal Dev were present.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, 6 August
Investors have pulled out more than Rs 48,000 crore from various mutual fund schemes in June after putting in a staggering Rs 1.44 lakh crore in the preceding two months.
As per the latest data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), there was a net outflow of Rs 48,403 crore in June as against a net inflow of Rs 37,435 crore in the previous month.
In April, investors had pumped in Rs 1.06 lakh crore in various mutual fund (MF) schemes, the highest in two years. This was the highest net inflow by investors in MF schemes in a single month since April 2011, when investors had put in Rs 1.84 lakh crore.
At the gross level, mutual funds mobilised Rs 6.98 lakh crore in June, while there were redemption worth Rs 7.46 lakh crore as well. This resulted in a net inflow of Rs 48,403 crore.
This significant level of funds withdrawal has also contributed to the decline in the total assets under management of mutual funds that fell to Rs 8.11 lakh crore as on 30 June, from Rs 8.68 lakh crore in the previous month.
Mutual fund is an investment vehicle that pools funds from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets for layman investors.

New Delhi, 6 August: With CAG alleging that Reliance Industries was delaying furnishing of records for audit, the oil ministry has ordered the Mukesh Ambani-run firm to provide records “as early as possible”.
“The ministry has taken seriously the issue raised by Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) in audit of KG-D6 block…
“Office of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has informed the Union oil ministry that out of 96 audit requisition issued by them, reply of 28 are either not received or are partially received,” minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Ms Panabaaka Lakshmi said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.     PTI

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE 
Kolkata, 6 August 
“The Left Front had decided before the panchayat elections that it would not form any sort of understanding with the Congress or the Trinamul Congress or the BJP,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose said today. Thereby, he ruled out any possibility of Congress forming a board at Malda and North Dinajpur with support of the Left.
Mr Bose&’s contention also negates the hopes of Union minister of state for health, Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, who had said he would welcome support from either the Left Front or the Trinamul Congress, to form the zilla parishad at Malda. “However, there is no bar in striking up an alliance with the Independent candidates who have won on their own,” Mr Bose said.
“But the Left Front will have no connection with the dissidents who have won as Independents,” the LF chairman said. 
Mr Bose&’s statement is a clear indication to keep away dissidents from the Left Front who, after having been denied the party nomination, won as independents. In doing so, the LF chairman, besides inculcating intra-front discipline, also laid down the distinction between Left Front constituents and other parties in the state who have welcomed the victorious dissidents to their ranks.
“Left Front candidates will be in the Opposition in most of the zilla parishads as it lacks the numbers to form the board,” Mr  Bose said explaining the role of the post-panchayat role of the LF nominees.

Dacoits arrested: Five dacoits were caught when they were planning a robbery in Paradip town here last night.Police sources said that five dacoits were at a local Shiv Temple giving final touches to their plan when they were apprehended by them. The five accused have been identified as Subhakant Behera, Ajaya Mandal, Jaydev Swain, Amit Nayak, and Mithun Barik.

JMM not to support Gjmm on statehood issue
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Siliguri, 6 August 
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha&’s north Bengal regional unit that has a standing alliance with the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha in the Terai-Dooars region, has decided to maintain neutrality vis-à-vis the raging demand of Gorkhaland and the subsequent unrest in
the Hills.
The general secretary, JMM north Bengal unit, Mr Raju Bora, said they would play the role of disinterested spectators with the GJMM hyping stance on the issue of statehood for
the Gorkhas. 
“As the statehood movement has so far remained confined in the Hills and we have not yet received any message from the JMM headquarters in Ranchi regarding the sensitive issue, we are keeping ourselves aloof for the time being. However, we will form rural bodies along with the GJMM in this region, as we fought the rural polls together,” he added.
“We stand by our commitment regarding the issue of inclusion of 396 mouzas from this region in the GTA. Our stand on the proposed ATA (Adivasi Territorial Administration) will remain unchanged. But we will never extend support to the GJMM if they drag their statehood movement in the Dooars demanding the region to be included in the proposed area of Gorkhaland,” Mr Bora said.
Mr Bora also cleared his party&’s stance regarding the panchayat bodies across the Dooars that have thrown up hung verdicts.
“The JMM is for understanding across the political divide. We will keep doors open for understanding with the Congress, Trinamul Congress and Left Front parties,” he said.
“Though we have not received specific direction from the JMM&’s top leadership we are open to block/ local level understanding with the mainstream political parties to form panchayat bodies where the status is uncertain. The interests of the local people are the yardsticks for going ahead in the direction of board-formation,” he said.
He said his party would not spurn Trinamul Congress though the ruling party is now at loggerheads with the GJMM on the current unrest over Gorkhaland. “This despite the fact that the JMM and the Congress have decided to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections together,” he added.

Keonjhar, 6 August: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Bench headed by Justice Swatantra Kumar which has stayed work relating to laying of pipeline by BRPL and Essar companies in Keonjhar district heard the counsels for the petitioner and the Opposition parties before posting the matter to 13 August.
Advocate Bibhu Prasad Tripathy, appearing for petitioners Murali Sharma and Sarbeswar Mishra, said the bench heard the contentions of the counsel for the companies who cited permissions given by the forest officers of Keonjhar for laying the pipe line at Dubuna and the provisions which allow work in non-forest land pending receipt of environment clearances. The NGT has asked the MoEF to furnish its response and has fixed the next date for 13 August.     sns

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Rourkela, 6 August
Six women resource centres of Rourkela Steel Plant set up under Project Kishori to empower young women were awarded for excellent performance in various endeavours.
The president of Deepika Mahila Sanghati, Mrs Manjari Prasad awarded the members of the Centres.
Out of the 30 old WRCs , the Jabaghat WRC bagged the first prize, followed by Lohanda and Ushra WRCs in 2nd and 3rd place. Similarly out of the new WRCs, Bagdega WRC won the 1st prize while the second and third spots were bagged by the WRCs of Khairband and Tumran.
Mrs Prasad said that the progress of women always ushers in development of the society. She encouraged the members of the Women Resource Centres to pursue their goals of being socially and economically empowered
RSP, as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives has set up 40 Women Resource Centres in periphery villages under the four revenue blocks of Nuagaon, Lathikata, Bisra and Kuarmunda, out of which 10 were established in the year 2012-13.
The aim of the Women Resource Centres is to empower young women by training them in various income generation activities, enhancing their self-esteem, making them conscious of health and hygiene as well as about their social and legal rights.
These WRCs are now acting as hubs of learning and progress for the young women.

JMM not to support Gjmm on statehood issue
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Siliguri, 6 August 
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha&’s north Bengal regional unit that has a standing alliance with the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha in the Terai-Dooars region, has decided to maintain neutrality vis-à-vis the raging demand of Gorkhaland and the subsequent unrest in
the Hills.
The general secretary, JMM north Bengal unit, Mr Raju Bora, said they would play the role of disinterested spectators with the GJMM hyping stance on the issue of statehood for
the Gorkhas. 
“As the statehood movement has so far remained confined in the Hills and we have not yet received any message from the JMM headquarters in Ranchi regarding the sensitive issue, we are keeping ourselves aloof for the time being. However, we will form rural bodies along with the GJMM in this region, as we fought the rural polls together,” he added.
“We stand by our commitment regarding the issue of inclusion of 396 mouzas from this region in the GTA. Our stand on the proposed ATA (Adivasi Territorial Administration) will remain unchanged. But we will never extend support to the GJMM if they drag their statehood movement in the Dooars demanding the region to be included in the proposed area of Gorkhaland,” Mr Bora said.
Mr Bora also cleared his party&’s stance regarding the panchayat bodies across the Dooars that have thrown up hung verdicts.
“The JMM is for understanding across the political divide. We will keep doors open for understanding with the Congress, Trinamul Congress and Left Front parties,” he said.
“Though we have not received specific direction from the JMM&’s top leadership we are open to block/ local level understanding with the mainstream political parties to form panchayat bodies where the status is uncertain. The interests of the local people are the yardsticks for going ahead in the direction of board-formation,” he said.
He said his party would not spurn Trinamul Congress though the ruling party is now at loggerheads with the GJMM on the current unrest over Gorkhaland. “This despite the fact that the JMM and the Congress have decided to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections together,” he added.

Enforced reform?
Perfectly valid is the dismay of the Supreme Court that virtually nothing has been done to implement the directives for police reform that it issued in 2006. There will, therefore, be much attention to what transpires later this week when state governments will be required to explain if there were any legislative impediments to implementing what had been spelt out in what was supposedly a landmark order in the Prakash Singh case. That on the ground there has been only token progress was evident from what the Attorney-General, GE Vahanvati (appearing as amicus curiae) told a two-member Bench on 31 July: indeed it was at his suggestion that the explanatory affidavits were demanded. While the key recommendations made in 2006 would have far-reaching consequences, some of them had actually been made earlier too. For example, separating the investigating staff from those tasked with the maintenance of law and order, a fixed two-year tenure for Directors-General of Police, establishment of police complaints authorities, state security councils etc.
 It is, however, interesting to note that the court queried the legislative constraints and not the financial ones ~ there will be major difficulties in finding men and money to have two streams of personnel at the police station level, does the special central funding for police modernisation cover that or is it limited to the purchase of weapons and equipment?
A more fundamental query pertains to whether reforms can actually be “externally” enforced?  Some token compliance could be assured but unless reform is comprehensive and generated from within the results would be only limited. And in addition to what the court has spoken about, true reform would have to take in pay and allowances, training, weapons and equipment, transport and personnel-related welfare measures such as housing, medical cover, fixed duty hours etc.
It is also high time a thorough study was undertaken of the range of laws a police station is required to enforce: the short point being that while “reform” may have just six-letters it speaks volumes. What no revised manual can address is the manner in which the police are misused by their political masters: if at the central level it is the CBI that is involved in keeping the coalition intact, in the states the cops are required to let the politicians’ goons flourish. It is also a pathetic reflection of the political and administrative leadership that the union home ministry provides that it has failed to carry the states along with it on any initiative. Nor does North Block care to lead by example: the Delhi Police functions directly under it… no need to elaborate on the law-and-order situation in the Capital or the competence of its cops.

Zing-less in Zimbabwe
At 89, Robert Mugabe is a wily survivor. Set to remain the President of Zimbabwe for the next five years, he will have earned the distinction ~ however dubious ~ of  heading the post-colonial dispensation for 38 years, indeed since 1980 when white rule ended. And yet there are no whoops of joy in Harare over the purportedly spectacular renewal of triumph, this time with the icing that the brute majority ~ 61 per cent of the vote ~ precludes a coalition government of his Zanu-PF and his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai&’s Movement for Democratic Change (MCD). The latter has signalled his intent to move court, denouncing the verdict as “rigged and stolen”. The election has been hotly disputed, not merely in Zimbabwe but in the West as well. Central to the dispute is not whether Mugabe was funded by the diamond merchants, as exposed by The Sunday Times, but the fraudulent conduct of the elections. The country seems headed for a constitutional, political and economic crisis should Tsvangirai fight his next battle in court, insisting on his demand  for re-election. In a sense, the post-election scenario could be as unstable as Afghanistan or Iran under Ahmadinejad; the scale of the fraud has been far wider if the tightness in the throat of the Zanu-PF leadership and the blunt responses abroad are any indication. The fallout could be the recipe for greater fragility.
Mugabe&’s  Zimbabwe has managed to alienate the influential West; and it isn’t a question of post-colonial governance, still less the black-and-white construct which has ceased to be quite so relevant. The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has dismissed the election as “deeply flawed”. Damningly for Mugabe, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague&’s expression of what he calls “grave concern” is matched with Australia&’s suggestion for “a re-run of the elections based on a verified and agreed voters’ roll.” Few national elections have provoked so strident an outcry, and the South African President, Jacob Zuma&’s “profound congratulations” is an expression of contrived diplomatic courtesy. As must be the certificate of Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian President, who  had led the African Union delegation to oversee the elections ~ “I have never seen an election that is perfect.” Notably, there were no observers either from the UN or the European Union.
The election results this time have been radically different from the 2008 vote, in which neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai won a majority.  This time, the President has won a two-thirds majority, one that will enable him to amend the Constitution without seeking the support of other parties.

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Jajpur, 6 August
A youth was arrested in Jajpur town yesterday on charges of allegedly raping a minor girl, police said. The accused has been identified as Kaura Jena (25) of Kuansarpur under the Jajpur municipal area while the victim is a school student, informed the police.
According to police, the 13-year -old girl ,a student of class seven, was playing during the afternoon recess when the accused Jena lured her with biscuits. He then took the girl to a nearby secluded place and raped her. The accused had threatened the victim with dire consequence if she revealed the incident to anyone.
On returning home, the girl narrated the incident to her parents who reported the matter to police.
Police raided several places in search of the accused and arrested him from his hide-out yesterday. The victim and the accused have been sent for medical examination and Jena has been arrested under Section 376 IPC, said Jajpur town police station IIC Asit Ranjan Mohanty.

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Siliguri, 6 August
The Siliguri Metropolitan Police is likely to interrogate the Darjeeling district
Congress president and Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) board member Mr Sankar Malakar in relation with the SJDA scam of more than Rs 50 crore this week.
Police interrogated the former Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) deputy mayor Mr Ranjan Sil
Sharma today.
Police arrested 10 persons, including three engineers and owners and employees of some construction
companies, for alleged siphoning off SJDA funds for setting up of three electric crematoriums in Bagdogra, Malbazar and Mainaguri, two sewerage treatment plants at the Mahananda river and installation of CCTV cameras in Siliguri.
Police have already interrogated former SJDA chairman and Siliguri MLA Dr Rudranath Bhattacharya, former SJDA chief executive officer and Malda district magistrate Mr G Kirankumar, the Jalpaiguri district Trinamul Congress president and the SJDA board member Mr Chandan Bhowmik in this regard.
Dr Bhattacharya was made the chairman of the SJDA after the Trinamul Congress came to power but he was removed as the SJDA chairman following the controversy over the SJDA corruption in March.
The North Bengal development minister, Mr Gautam Deb, took over as the SJDA chairman.
A senior police officer said police would interrogate Mr Malakar this week.

Private banks and banking
SIR, Apropos the report, “Subbarao for inclusive growth” (3 August), licensing of new banks in the private sector is on the anvil. According to the eligibility criteria, entities in the private sector, owned /controlled by resident Indians with sound credentials and integrity will be eligible to promote banks. Commercial banks were nationalized in 1969 with the basic objective of controlling private monopolies and to ensure smooth supply of credit to the social welfare sector.  Since 2003-04, the task of financial inclusion has been entrusted to the commercial banks. Their performance in the face of various limitations does not inspire much confidence. This explains the move to encourage the  private sector.
The gross NPA of commercial banks  was Rs 71,800 crore in March 2011; it increased to Rs 1.55 lakh crore in December 2012. Industries are sick, but not the industrialists. The legal system has not been able to ensure recovery. On the contrary, defaulter-borrowers take refuge under the law. The commercial banks are thus more sinned against than sinning.
Taking advantage of  the gullibility of villagers a large number of sham companies collect crores under collective investment schemes (CIS).
The money that is collected is swindled. The small and marginal depositors are  driven to penury, if not suicide. Corruption and legal lacunae have damaged the banking system.  Political will and a rejig of the legal system are essential for  ‘poverty sensitive growth’.
 The private entity that is granted a banking licence must possess sound credentials and integrity ~ the scarcest commodity. RBI ought to review its licensing policy, taking care of those who are often swindled.
Yours, etc., Asit Baran Ray,
Perth, 5 August.
NO CBI-IB RIFT
SIR, This is with reference to Sankar Sen&’s article, ‘IB versus CBI!’ (28 July). There is no rift between the CBI and Intelligence Bureau, as Mr Sen suggests. The CBI is a responsible police organisation and fully respects the key role being played by the Intelligence Bureau in national security. In fact, contrary to the opinion expressed in the article, the CBI is working in close cooperation with IB to investigate several cases including those pertaining to alleged fake encounters, as directed by the court.
The article states that the CBI investigation will lead to the disclosure of ‘secret undercover operations’ by the Intelligence Bureau.
This allegation is unfounded; a CBI probe is within the ambit mandated by the court.  Our investigation relies strictly on evidence collected on field, which is subject to a strong and robust mechanism of scrutiny by police and legal officers, as per law. The writer also alleges that the CBI is “leaking” information about the IB. We strongly deny the allegation. Our findings are only shared with courts and legal officers, as per requirement. The CBI is a professional and dedicated premier investigation agency, with vast experience and is fully aware of its constitutional and legal obligations. It has an impeccable record and  has earned the trust of the public. Investigations conducted by the CBI are free and fair. As per law mandated, any person irrespective of his position or rank will be investigated, if required, with a view to solving a crime and unearthing the truth.
Yours, etc., Dharini Mishra,
(Chief Information Officer, CBI), New Delhi, 30 July.

* We hope Mr Sen finds this more reassuring than we do.
    ~ Ed.S.
JOURNALISTIC ETHICS
SIR, I have been reading The Statesman for the past 38 years. The paper has recently been redesigned. The Monday feature, Viewpoint, has been scrapped. I love the paper not because of its getup but for its journalistic ethics ~ honesty, integrity impartiality and a very lucid style of presentation. It can be referred to students as the de facto standard of English. Moreover, it maintains the tradition of fearless journalism, with no holy cow to protect. However, the paper was more comprehensive before the facelift. Jettisoning the old for the sake of fashion and design is very likely to dent the popularity of The Statesman ~ the greatest daily in the country.
    Yours, etc., Narayan Chandra Ghosh,
Nadia, 23 July.

Says he did not make any explicit statement on the matter
press trust of india
Chennai, 6 August
Joining issue with his arch rival and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa over her criticism on the Food Security Bill, DMK president M Karunanidhi today indicated he had not made any explicit statement on the matter.
“Is there any iota of truth in Jayalalithaa’s statement that I had expressed support for the Food Security Bill? When did I issue such statements? Can Jayalalithaa point out such reports?” he asked in a statement.
He said the chief minister herself had admitted that his party had expressed its opposition to the Bill when it was tabled in the Lok Sabha and also cited reports in this regard.
She had said that party MP T K S Elangovan had said why should DMK oppose the ordinance when it is intended to benefit the poor and the general public
and alleged that this expo-sed Mr Karunanidhi’s true self.
“Have I spoken about the Food Security Bill after that or written about it? Did party MPs extend their support to the Bill,” he said in a statement.
Referring to Ms Jayalalithaa citing Mr Elangovan’s remarks, he asked if the MP was the sole representative of the DMK or if he was the Parliamentary Party Leader.
The DMK patriarch, however, pulled up his junior colleague, saying he did not accept the “unilateral” media interview given by Mr Elangovan and urged all partymen to maintain caution while speaking to them, or else such remarks could be used by someone to suit their needs.
He denied having betrayed the Tamil people by supporting the Bill, as alleged by the Chief Minister, and recalled he had spoken in support of the state DGP on the issue of te Special Protection Group denying him permission to receive Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Tiruchirappalli in the past week.
He was also opposed to the stake sale of NLC and asked if such stands amounted to supporting the Centre.

New Delhi, 6 August: Protests over Telangana rocked the Rajya Sabha for the second day as it saw repeated adjournments after TDP members trooped into the Well demanding justice for Andhra and a Minister from the state indulging in a wordy duel with a fellow member.
TDP members C M Ramesh and YSR Chowdhary kept shouting slogans in the Well, while Minister J D Seelam clashed with Palvai Govardhan Reddy (Cong) over certain remarks.
Mr Reddy, a strong Telangana supporter, said Seemandhra members should go out of Telangana, a comment which drew sharp reaction from Seemandhra members.Mr Seelam retorted saying his comments were “objectionable”. He was supported by Mrs Renuka Chowdhury (Cong).
Some members from the treasury benches tried to placate both Reddy and Seelam and later senior member Ambika Soni was also seen advising the minister not to indulge in a spat.     pti