PRESIDENT DOING HOMEWORK ON NEW GOVT. FORMATION Kathmandu, 24 June: President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has concluded Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has failed to assemble a national government of consensus and has begun homework to form a new government, Madhav Dhungel writes in Nagarik. An alternative to the government has been sought with splits in ruling coalition of UCPN Maoist and MJFL. CPN Maoist has decided an ‘interim joint government’ must be formed. nnnn DEUBA SAYS GOVT. HAS NO AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT POLLS Kathmandu, 24 June: Leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC) Saturday said that the current government had no constitutional and legal authority to hold the Constituent Assembly elections, The Rising Nepal reports. Speaking at a function organised by the NGO Federation-Nepal, they also said that the Maoist-led government was trying to capture the state powers by creating constitutional and political crisis. NC senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the Maoists were not honest to promulgate the new constitution and they dissolved the CA with the ill intention of capturing the state power. The former Prime Minister said that holding the new elections without political consensus was impossible. "The new election is not necessary to promulgate the new constitution," he added. He said that all parties should reach a consensus to resolve the political crisis and added that without political consensus, the ongoing crisis would not be resolved. He said that the government should create an environment for consensus politics in order to end the ongoing constitutional, legal and political crisis. In another context, he said that the NGOs were playing a big role in the development process of Nepal and suggested that they should introduce programmes in favour of the poor people of the country. NC leader Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat lauded the NGO sector for supporting the economic development process of the country and said that the NGOs should bring in new policies to promote development of Nepal. He said that the government should protect the NGOs for sustainable development and added, "The NGOs should work in favour of the poor Nepalese people." Meanwhile, NC leader Gagan Thapa said that if Nepal succeeded to adopt the latest information technology, the country would be able to benefit a lot. Speaking at a function organized by IC Tech Media Pvt. Ltd, Thapa said that the technological development could be a big help in the economic, educational, health and social development process. Former Science and Technology Minister Ganesh Shah said that the technological development was a pre-condition for the poverty reduction. He said that the technological progress was the bottom line for the economic and social transformation of any country. IT officer of the Prime Minter’s Office Mukesh Regmi, Dr. Subarna Shakya, scientist Muni Bahadur Shakya and others stressed that the government should give priority to technological development. Nnnn UCPN-M SPLIT DIVIDES FAMILIES Kathmandu, 24 June: The division in the UCPN-Maoist has split families of the party leaders. Standing committee member Lila Mani Pokharel is in the mother party but his brother Dhaneswor Pokharel is with the newly formed CPN-Maoist led by Mohan Baidhya Kiran, The Rising Nepal reports. . Govinda Acharya, who was loyal to Baidhya before the division of the party, has stayed with the mother party leading the Revolutionary Journalists’ Association. His wife Sabitri Sharma and in-laws are with the new party. Likewise, chairman of Janashanchar Abhiyan Nepal Chet Lal Kunwar is with the mother party but his grandson Shreedhar Kunwar joined the new faction. Earlier, both were close to Baidhya. Students union chief of Saraswati Campus and Mt. Everest climber Bina Thapa is with UCPN-Maoist but her husband Shankar is with the new party. Lamjung district chief of the party Mohanhari Paudel has joined the new party. His nephew Santosh Paudel is the personal press advisor of UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. Meanwhile, Nepal Rastriya Karmachari Mahasangh expelled its vice-chair Pabitra Timalsina and general secretary Thakur Prasad Devkota for working against the organization. The Mahasangh had supported the new party of the Maoists. Timalsina and Devkota had claimed that they would take action against chairman Rukma Lamichhane and vice-chairman Mani Shrestha. Meanwhile, Janamorcha Nepal had supported the newly formed communist party for its policy, plan and action. Similarly, 25 sister organizations of UCPN-Maoist Saturday claimed that 85 per cent of central office bearers were with the mother party. Issuing a press statement a day after 14 sister organizations expressed their support to the new party, they claimed that the new party had no clear plans. nnnn FORMER FINANCE MINISTERS CALL FOR CONSENSUS BUDGET Kathmandu, 24 June: Former Finance Ministers have asked the government to introduce a budget for the fiscal year 2069/70 only through forging political consensus for its effective Implementation, The Rising Nepal reports. Speaking at an interaction here in the Capital on Saturday, they the present government did not have any right to bring in a full-fledged budget. Former Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari said that the government should not increase the size of budget for the next fiscal year because the capital expenditure could not be increased as per the budget allocation. "The government should present the budget by increasing around 7 per cent from last year’s budget amount to Rs. 412 billion for the next fiscal year," he said. He suggested that the government should introduce a partial budget to run regular activities if it failed to forge consensus among the political parties. He further said that the budget should focus on existing priority sectors such as hydropower, road expansion, agriculture, tourism, among others, rather than introduce the new policies and sector. Another former Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya emphasised the need for all the political parties to move ahead by reaching an understanding as they have common economic agendas in the present situation. Acharya said that the budget should prioritise strengthening and improving revenue collection, reducing trade deficit, minimising unproductive expenses, and making payments of the principle. nnnn