NINE EAST DISTRICTS CLOSED DOWN BY LIMBUWAN STRIKE

NINE EAST NEPAL DISTRICTS AFFECTED BY LIMBUWAN STRIKE
Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: A strike called Sunday by Limbuwan Rajya Parishan demanding an autonomous Limbuwan province has affected normal nine districts of the terai and hills east of Arun Regional urban centers, including Biratnagar, have been affected without movement of vehicles of Mechi, Kosi and eastern section of Mahendra Highway.
NC closed down Sunsari district protesting death of NC worker Sanu Yadav in police shooting after returning from India with goods.
The party is demanding action for what it called excesses and compensation.
nnnn
FAILED ATTEMPT TO PREVENT PM KHANAL FROM CHAIRING UML MEET

Kathmandu, 7 Aug.: Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal came under attack today at the party’s Central committee meeting with some CC members demanding that Khanal be barred from chairing the meeting as he faced the allegation that he had disregarded the party’s decision, The Himalayan Times reports.

The UML central disciplinary commission too, had said last Tuesday, that Khanal had violated the party decision by reshuffling his cabinet on August 1.

Today’s meeting lasted for three hours as Khanal was unwell. The next meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday. Khanal did not present any document at today’s meeting, which was called to discuss the upcoming meeting of the National Representative Council, scheduled for September 16 to 18, and a host of other political issues.

Before the meeting kicked off, some CC members loyal to the KP Oli-Madhav Nepal faction, including Raghuji Pant, Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Khagaraj Adhikari, Guru Baral, Agni Kharel and Mahendra Pandey argued that Khanal should not chair the CC meeting as “he had been accused of violating the party’s standing committee decisions of July 26, 28 and August 1. But Minister without portfolio Ghanshyam Bhusal defended Khanal saying that he had the right to chair the meeting as the allegation was yet to be proved. Vice-chairperson Bidhya Devi Bhandari said the three secretaries – Bishnu Poudel, Shankar Pokharel and Yuvaraj Gyawali – had shed-light on a series of standing committee decisions that Khanal had violated, the copies of the decisions were distributed to all CC members.

The three secretaries, according to some CC members, alleged that Khanal had ignored the party’s decisions by inducting a new team of ministers from the UCPN-Maoist in his cabinet.

“It was wrong on Khanal’s part to call the standing committee meeting when he had already set the stage for swearing in the new ministers,” Karna Thapa, another CC member, quoted secretary Gyawali.

CC member Krishna Gopal Shrestha said the three standing committee meetings, chaired by Khanal himself, had decided not to reshuffle the cabinet and to hold the CC meeting on August 21 to discuss formation of unity government. The meetings had also decided that the PM did not have to step down pro-tem.

But, according to CC member Yogesh Bhattarai, who is close to Khanal, Vice-chairman Bamdev Gautam, and Bhusal, no decision had been taken at the standing committee meeting on August 1 as the “party chairman had left the meeting after adjourning it”.

Gautam defended Khanal’s cabinet reshuffle, saying it was his prerogative and an issue between the PM and UCPN-Maoist, which deemed it necessary to send its new team to the cabinet.
nnnn