DPM SHRESTHA REITERATES GOVT. READY TO QUIT CONDITIONALLY Kathmandu, 21 Aug.: Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha has reiterated that the government was ready to quit at any time if the political parties forged consensus on peace and constitution writing process, RSS reports. Speaking at a news conference at Janakpur Airport organized by the Revolutionary Journalists' Association, Dhanusha chapter today, Shrestha said that the Maoists were ready to hold discussions with other parties and added that peace and constitution were more important issues than quitting the government. On the occasion, Shrestha also expressed dissatisfaction to the President's rejection to the ordinance without consulting to the government. "Issuing a statement by the President over the issue of ordinance was not needed," he added. He further said that the government was conscious to prevent confrontation between the government and the President in the post constituent assembly dissolution period. On the separate context, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the government would pay attention for developing Janakpur as a cultural city. nnnn MOHAN BAIDHAYA, KAMAL THAPA DISCUSS ALLIANCE AGAINST GOVT. Kathmandu, 21 Aug.: A meeting was held between CPN-Maoist Chairman Mohan Baidya and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)-Nepal Chairman Kamal Thapa today [Tuesday], RSS reporters. . After the meeting held at the Maoist's central office Buddhanagar, Thapa said that they discussed the way to forge consensus among the political parties to resolve the current political crisis. During the meeting, the parties also agreed to move ahead by being united to protect nationality and sovereignty of the country. Stating that he has put forth a six-point proposal to end the current deadlock, Thapa said that he proposed the formation of an election government under the leadership of an independent person by amending the constitution. Thapa has been visiting top leaders of the major political parties putting forth the proposal from his party's side in the recent days. Nnnn BODY OF PHILIPPINES LEADER KILLED IN PLANE CRASH RECOVERED Kathmandu, 21 Aug.:: The Philippines was in mourning on Tuesday after divers recovered the body of one of its most influential politicians, who died when a plane carrying him and three others crashed into the sea. Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo's body was found 55 metres (180 feet) under water near the coast of the island of Masbate, where the plane went down on Saturday, Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas, AFP reports from Manila.said. Divers battled strong currents to reach the wreck of the twin-engine Piper Seneca, which was lying overturned and broken into pieces on the seabed, about 800 metres from the shore. Robredo's body was brought up on Tuesday morning. The 54-year-old, a father of three daughters, was a popular and well-liked statesman widely considered to be incorruptible, in a country where graft is endemic and politicians often distrusted. The dramatic search-and-rescue efforts had gripped the Catholic nation of nearly 100 million people, with hundreds joining prayer vigils and longtime friend President Benigno Aquino going to Masbate initially to help. Aquino returned to the central island on Tuesday to fetch Robredo's flag-draped casket, which he then delivered aboard a military airplane to the grieving family in their hometown of Naga in the eastern Philippines. "He is a very big loss to the cabinet and to the entire nation," an emotional presidential spokeswoman, Abigail Valte, told reporters at a church in Manila where a mass for Robredo was held. Jose Fabian Cadiz, a vice mayor of a suburban Manila district and a close Robredo friend, said people in Naga were feeling a deep sense of loss. "He was a very good man and an even greater public servant. He will be very missed," Cadiz told AFP by phone from Robredo's home, where he was comforting the politician's wife and daughters -- aged 12, 18 and 24. Flags in all government offices flew at half mast, while the Australian, British and US governments extended sympathies to the Philippines. Aquino's office said it planned a state funeral. Robredo was flying to Naga from the central Philippines, where he was on an official trip, when the plane developed engine trouble, fell short of the runway and plunged into the sea. Robredo's aide, one of the four people on board, survived the crash with non-life threatening injuries after hauling himself out of the plane as it was about to sink. Fishermen plucked him out of the water. But the two pilots -- Filipino Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitiz Chand -- died and divers had not yet been able to recover their bodies from the sunken fuselage. Roxas said a volunteer British diver led the rescue team to the wreckage. The diver described the plane as broken into "three big chunks" with the three bodies intact inside the fuselage, according to Roxas. As interior secretary, Robredo was in control of the country's 143,000-strong police force. Robredo was in charge of efforts to tackle police corruption, part of a much-publicised anti-graft programme Aquino has been implementing across all sectors of society since coming to power in 2010. Robredo's portfolio also included overseeing all local governments. In this role he won plaudits for implementing a sensitive policy aimed at boosting transparency that required local governments to disclose key financial documents. He was also credited with helping local governments put in place disaster mitigation schemes, such as early warning systems for typhoons, a vital task in a country where thousands of people die each year in natural calamities. A former town mayor, Robredo became a rising political star in 2000 when he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for good governance, in recognition of transforming Naga from a backwater into a bustling commercial centre. The well-respected award recognises high-achieving and honourable people annually across Asia. (The co-pilot of the plane in which the leader was flying a Nepali who also died.) nnnn_