DEUBA SAYS HE WON;T BOW DOWN TO SUSHIL KOIRRALA

DEFIANT SHER BAHADUR DEUBA SAYS HE’LL NOT COW DOWN TO SUSHIL KOIRALA

Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Main opposition NC President Sushil Koirala Thursday proposed appointing party office bearers by including representatives of both factions and appointment of ad hoc committees of party fraternal organizations for their general conventions
The proposals were floated at a meeting of party office bearers.
Koirala warned of unilateral appointments if names weren’t suggested by dissident senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba who is on a tour of far, mid and western region districts to drum up support against Koirala ahead of a meeting of district presidents he’s convened in the capital this month.
“Why should l obey Sushil?” Deuda asked supporters in Palpa Thursday.
“I didn’t obey Girijababu. Gairjbabu stripped me of my ordinary party membership when I was prime minister. He called me back signing a letter personally.”
Deuba charged Suhsil Koirala of dictatorial tendencies
At the same time, Deuba’s rivalry with Party Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel has also heightened and come out publicly as both leaders stake a claim to lead a national government to succeed Prime Minister Baburam
Bhattarai.
Party establishment has sided with Paudel.
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KALI PRASAD RIJAL TO GET MAHAKABI DEVKOTA PURASKAR

Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Lyricist Kali Prasad Rijal will be awarded this year’s Mahakabi Debkota Pyraskar, an announcement said.
Folk litterateur Dharmaraj Thapa, novelist Madanmani Dixit, literary critic Prof. Dr. Keshab Prasad Upadhaya and limguist Rama Sahran will also be awarded the prize
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MEDIA GOOGLE

‘Dhakal [Ramnath, chairman of parliament’s state affairs committee] was attacked after he raised the issue of the misuse of government fund released for paying allowances to Maoist combatants.”

(NC President Ram Chandra Paudel, Republica, 9 Dec.)
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PAC SEEKS DETAILED ACCOUNTING OF MONEY SPENT ON FORMER MAOIST COMBATANTS IKIN CANTONMENTS

Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament has asked the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction to furnish details of the registered Maoist combatants staying in the cantonments to the committee within the next seven days, Republica reports.

The parliamentary committee has also sought the details of annual expenditures and the amount of money released in the names of the Maoist combatants over the last five years.

The decision to seek details from the ministry was endorsed at the meeting after consulting the Maoist lawmakers.

“Why not? We need to seek details of the expenditures and the PAC can do it,” Maoist member at the committee Rajkaji Maharjan said after PAC Chairman Ram Krishna Yadav, UML leader Surendra Pandey, among other key members of the committee, consulted Maharjan.

The PAC decision comes at a time when opposition parties have been fiercely criticizing top Maoist leaders for regularly receiving a huge sum of money in the name of Maoist combatants. Though the government records show that 19,602 combatants have been drawing salaries, over 2,700 of them were not found in the cantonments.

Though NC and UML had been claiming of desertion by thousands of combatants, Maoists always refuted the claim. But opposition parties´ claim came true as over 2,700 combatants didn´t turn up for re-categorization.

Lawmakers from the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC), and other opposition parties, including the CPN-UML, have demanded that the Maoist leadership return the money released in the name of absentee combatants.

Leaders from the opposition parties have also been demanding that the Maoist leadership return the combatants´ money retained as deposits. They have accused the top Maoist leaders of embezzling the salaries meant for the combatants.
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