PM Nepal visiting India from 18 Aug.

Kathmandu, 18 Aug: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is visiting India for three days from 18 August, diplomatic sources said.
The visit will be his second foreign trip after attending the NAM summit in Egypt where he held his first meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.
The India visit will be Nepal’s first bilateral outing.
Before the prime minister’s New Delhi visit, Defence Minister Bidya Bhandari is visiting India from Monday.
Nepal Army has suggested she take initiative to renew military supplies suspended after the royal takeover.
Maoists are likely to oppose the move.
Nnnn

Nepali Congress convention in Nov/Dec

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 18 July: Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala said the party’s general convention is likely to be held in Nov/Dec.
“All district conventions will be concluded in Kartik [Oct/Nov] after which a general convention will be held in Mangshir [Nov/Dec],” Koirala said.
Koirala is unlikely to contest the presidency for which his cousin Sushil Koirala has already announce his candidacy.
Girija didn’t contest the leadership of the parliamentary party wrested by Vice-chairman Ram Chandra Paudel by surprisingly defeating former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
The contest for party control will probably be three-cornered between Deuba, Paudel and Sushil.
Octogenarian and ailing Koirala was always reluctant to share party leadership with others.
Calls are now being made for collective leadership in the oldest political party.
A triumvirate of BP Koirala, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Ganesh Man Singh led by party before Girija who wrested complete control by ousting Singh and Bhattarai who ultimately quit Congress after 1990.
Deuba challenged Girija splitting the party which has now formally united, though not psychologically, political analysts say.
Under Girija, Nepal’s largest party has shrunk to second position as Maoists are now the biggest political party.
Encouraged and promoted by Girija, a onetime diehard communist baiter, communists now dominate Nepali politics.
Maoists greeted Girija Saturday with black flags in Jhapa where he unveiled with CPN-UML leader KP Sharma Oli a statue dedicated to people killed during the last political movement.
Oli is a Maoist critic.
nnnn