MADHAV KUMAR NEPAL TELLS FORMER KING TO STICK TO BUSINESS Kathmandu, 8 July: UML leader and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said n Saturday ‘ there’s was no written or unwritten agreement’ between former King Gyanendra and agitating political parties to retain monarchy which was ousted following Janaandolan Two. Nepal said this in Parbat amid claims by the last Shah king last week in Bhairahawa he had an agreement with political parties to remain monarchy The former king is giving further details of his plans and possibly of the agreement in an interview with a TV channel to be aired later Sunday. Nepal claimed “Girijababu made to such agreement”. Nepal asked the former king not to join politics. “You have to undergo a lot of hardship in politics,” Nepal advised the former king. :There’s space for his to conduct business—his old profession,” Nepal said ruling out the possibility of monarchy’s return.. Then King Gyanendra rejected politics as a career for him and said UML he would want to return as king. Republica adds: NC General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who was closely involved in inter-party negotiations at the time, said the claim of the former king is totally baseless. “This is totally false. I am surprised to see a person of his stature saying this kind of baseless thing." He said he suspected that those who incited him to carry out the royal takeover in February 1, 2005 could have prompted him to make such remarks now. "It does not at all suit a person like him to make such false claims and mislead the people," he added. Sitaula claimed that some groups who wanted to see monarchy revived in the country may have tried to take some undue advantage by inciting him to say such false things. "I sincerely suggest to him not to move along that path,” he further said. Also, UML spokesman Pradeep Gyawali, who was closely involved in the negotiations, termed the former king´s claim baseless. He suggested to Shah to make the evidence public instead of making such claims. "The only conditions the political parties had agreed on was to provide security arrangements for him and the Nagarjun palace for his residential purpose," said Gyawali. According to him, the representatives from the international community had pressed the leaders from political parties to accept the king´s announcement made on April 21. "But later on April 24 Gyanendra had relinquished the power without any condition as there was an unprecedented and overwhelming support for the people´s movement from across the country," said Gyawali. nnnn ________________________________________ AIC PAYS RS. 640, TO IPL FOR 10,000 TONS OF DAP Kathmandu, 8 July: State-owned fertilizer importer Agriculture Inputs Company (AIC) has paid Rs 640 million to Indian Potash Ltd (IPL) for the import of 10,000 tons of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) from India, Republica reports. AR Khair, procurement manager of AIC said the company arranged the fund from internal resources and account transfer from the Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD), which oversees AIC. "We released the payment for IPL on Thursday. We expect to receive 2,500 tons of first consignment within a week," Khair told Republica on Saturday. After weeks of indecisiveness, which sparked severe scarcity of fertilizer in the market, AIC this week decided to procure a total of 30,000 tons of DAP from IPL. Khair said AIC will arrange funds for procurement of an additional 20,000 tons of DAP by securing loan from banks if the government fails to provide extra funds immediately. As per the recent instruction from the MoAD, AIC had signed a deal to buy 11,000 tons of DAP from Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) through IPL at Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of IRs 4,300 (NRs 6880) per ton. In a hope to ease the supply of fertilizers amid deepening shortage in paddy plantation season, AIC had decided to procure 30,000 tons of DAP from IPL, which was found supplying underweight sacks of fertilizers four months back. Then Public Account Committee (PAC) of parliament had instructed the government to take action against the Indian firm blacklisting it. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is still investigating the case. The government has allocated Rs 2.83 billion to procure subsidized fertilizers for the fiscal year 2011/12. The government has procured and distributed a total of 140,000 tons of chemical fertilizers for the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, 5,000 tons out of the total 12,500 tons of urea to be procured from Mineral and Mine Trading Company (MMTC), has already entered Nepal through Biratnagar and Birgunj customs points. "We have started distribution of freshly procured fertilizers through cooperative outlets stopping the distribution from Kathmandu head office from Friday," said Khair. He said another lot of urea will arrive in Nepal by next week. Shashi Raj Tuladhar, managing director of AIC said arrangement has been made to distribute freshly acquired fertilizers with priority to farmers in hilly districts of central and eastern region where shortage of fertilizers is acute. nnnn ________________________________________