GP Koirala won’t give up leader of Congress parliamentary party

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 22 Oct: Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala said Wednesday he won’t give up leadership of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party.
“I am the leader of the Congress parliamentary party. I’ll again be the leader of the parliamentary party. It’s necessary to make Congress effective.
“A historic responsibility has come on the shoulders of Congress,” the former prime minister told Ghatana ra Bichar.
Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Paudel were aspirants.
Koirala’s declaration indicates he will continue active politics even as he frequently says he will handover responsibilities to the younger generation.
Koirala earlier said the declaration of his candidacy by Paudel for the leadership of the parliamentary party was untimely.
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China invites Bamdeb Gautam

Kathmandu, 22 Oct: Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bamdeb Gautam is going to China seeking a three billion rupees aid package, Janaastha reports.
Gautam is visiting China immediately after Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal returned with a Rs 100 million assistance.
The visit is likely to take place from 24 November to 1 December.
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Naxalites kill 12 policemen

Kathmandu, 22 Oct: Only days after the Election Commission announced assembly polls in Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh, extremists Monday attacked a group of CRPF personnel in Bijapur district killing 12 of them on the spot and injuring six others, Amitabh Tiwari reports in the Times of India from Raipur.
A Maoist was killed when jawans opened fire.
[Note: The federal Indian government won’t negotiate with Naxalites to resolve the insurgency. But India imposed Maoists on Nepal.]
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New people’s republic to fight Indian expansionism: Mohan Baidya Kiran

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 22 Oct: Hard-line Maoist leader Mohan Baidya Kiran says a new people’s republic is necessary to counter Indian expansionism.
Kiran said this in a differing alternative proposal presented at a recent CPN (Maoist) central committee meeting.
Prime Minister and party President Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda presented a proposal for a democratic republic.
Both proposals will be debated by the party national meet in November amid a demand for a people’s republic opposed by major political parties.
Kiran’s proposal was published by the Janaastha Wednesday.
“Our strategy is the establishment of a new people’s republic against Indian expansionism in the Nepali context of feudalism and expansionism especially. Except this strategy cannot be achieved through a reformed work strategy. A revolutionary approach is necessary,” said in the paper.
“I asked him [Prachanda] why Maoists were pushing people’s republic slogan against democracy,” Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala told Ghatana ra Bichar.
Koirala was giving details of his meeting this week with the prime minister who asked Koirala to abandon a ‘rigid’ stance and join government.
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Nepal insulated from global financial crisis

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 22 Oct: Nepal has so far been insulated from the global financial crisis because its economy isn’t integrated with the world economy.
“Basically the Nepali economy is insulated; neither our stock market nor real estate sector has any direct foreign investment (FDI), so there is no major direct effect on our economy,” said CEO Siddhant Raj Pandey of Ace Development Bank.
“I guess the insulated stock market and absence of FDI has proven to be a major plus point for Nepal.”
Pandey said the Nepali rupee could be devaluated with the crisis.
Former National Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Shanker Sharma said recession in Europe could later impact foreign aid flow and tourist arrivals.
“The problem will be in remittance especially from Malaysia as it is a country which is very much dependent on FDI,” Sharma said.
CEO of Nabil Bank Anil Shah also said aid flow could be impacted.
“With the economies of lthedonor nations badly affected by the crisis, the quantam of aid or soft loans to Nepal may be limited,” Shah warned.
The Maoist-led government hopes to finance ambitious development plans with a 100 percent increase in foreign aid flow totaling Rs 61 billion rupees.
If Nepali banks haven’t deployed dollars ‘in a prudent manner abroad’ such investments could be a ‘ deep cause of concern’, said Sujit Mundul, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd.
“… have commercial banks in Nepal deployed their dollars abroad in a prudent manner? Hopefully, if the answer is yes, we are on a safer side,” he said.
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