Election for PM Monday

Kathmandu, 23 Aug.: Election for prime minister Monday is again expected to be inconclusive Monday with UML again deciding to stay neutral in voting.
A front of four Madesh parties is also expected to stay neutral.
Maoists can form a government with a simple majority is the front with 82 seats in parliament votes for the main opposition candidate Chairman Prachanda.
NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel is the other candidate.
A section in the UML led by KP Sharma Oli is pushing the party to change its stance to stay neutral and vote for Paudel—a move opposed by Chairman Jhalanath Khanal.
Chairman Dahal Sunday said the inability to elect a government chief in the last two elections was a ‘failure of the parliamentary system’.
Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal continues in office even two months after his resignation forced by Maoists.
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PM intervenes, pushes to sigh MRP deal

Kathmandu, 23 Aug.: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has directed foreign ministry officials to sign the machine readable passport (MRP) deal with Oberthru Technologies, a French security printer, within a couple of days while issuing them of approving MRP design, Republica reports.
The prime minister’s direction and assurance to the foreign ministry officials came at the end of a meeting called to settle the row over the MRP design at his official residence on Sunday, according to a source who attended the meeting.
“The ministry is most likely to sign a deal with the French security printer on Monday following the prime minister’s direction and assurance,” the source told Republica.
The row sparked after Deputy Prime Minister Sujata Kirala declined to approve MRP insignias protesting the ministry officials decision o award the multi-million MRP tender to Oberthru.
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Third front emerges in NC

KATHMANDU, AUG 23: Nepali Congress (NC) leaders Bhim Bahadur Tamang and Narahari Acharya have announced their candidacies for the posts of party president and general secretary in the party’s upcoming 12th General Convention. They say their aim is to stitch up growing polarisation in Congress, The Kathmandu Post reports.

They made the announcement organising a press conference at the party headquarters here on Sunday. The NC’s convention is kicking off in Kathmandu from Sept. 17.

Acharya said their candidacies are aimed at unifying Congress as the party has clearly been “divided” into two factions led by Acting President Sushil Koirala and senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, who will be in the race for the party president. Other NC leaders, including Sujata Koirala, Bimalendra Nidhi, and Prakash Man Singh, have already announced candidacies for the post of general secretary.

“Our main aim is to unify the party and fill in the gap of intellectual crisis visible within the party these days,” said Acharya. “We have also decided to try and re-establish the principles of BP Koirala, which the party seems to have missed in the recent times.”

According to him, other leaders, including Suprabha Ghimire, Pradip Giri and Shekhar Koirala from the Acharya-Tamang panel, are also likely to file candidacies for various posts.

Acharya, considered an intellectual thinker, leads a progressive line in the NC and Tamang is known for his simplicity and devotion to socialist values.
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Flood havoc in far-West
Kathmandu, 23 Aug,: Residents of Bhujela and Bhimdatta Municipality have started migrating to safe places, as the Mahakali River continues eroding land, breaching embankment, The Himalayan Times reports from Mahendranagar..

Over 39 families at Mahakali Tole in Bhujela have left for safe places after swollen Mahakali River breached temporary embankment constructed on Saturday. Nepali Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force had constructed the embankment. Residents of Bhujela fled fearing the Mahakali River might gush into human settlements with heavy downpour on Sunday. Some families of Bhimdatta Municipality have left for their relatives’ houses leaving behind crops

and property. The swollen Mahakali River has eroded the fields by breaching 60-metre embankment in Bhujela.

A meeting of District Disaster Committee held at District Administration Office today decided to demand Rs 10 million from Home Ministry to control the flood in Mahakali River. Kesavdatta Joshi, Administrative Officer, DAO, said the disaster committee dwelt on several ways to speed up the efforts for flood control. It was decided to house residents of Bhujela and Bhimdatta Municipality at Siddnath Secondary School, Badaipur, and Chauki Suda Primary School. It was also decided to accelerate flood control measure, demanding crane and excavators, Joshi told THT.

Despite incessant rainfall today, security forces continued to fill the nets with boulders to strengthen the embankment.

The breach has eroded fields belonging to two Bhujela residents. If the river gushes into the human settlements, Odali, Airi, Piparaiya and Badaipur villages are likely to be submerged. Vehicular movement on Banabas Bridge has been disrupted due to rise in water level in the river that was recorded 2.3 lakh cusecs today.
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