PRACHANDA BEGINNING POLITICAL CONSULTATIONS THRSDAY Kathmandu, 18 Oct. One day after returning home from Europe, Maoist Chairman Prachanda isholding political discussions Thursday With NC and UML leaders. He will also hold discussions with other parties, his aide said. Prachanda has now been pushing reinstatement of constituent assembly as a solution to the surrent deadlock. Nnnn NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO ADMINISTER VITAMIN A CAPSULES Kathmandu, 18 Oct.: Altogether 3.7 million children aged six months to five years will be administered Vitamin A capsules two days Thursday/ Friday. They will also be given de-worming tablets.in a national campaign for which over 53,000 female community health volunteers have been mobilized. The campaign was first launched 1993. to control eye-related diseases nnnn NC, UML SAY ELECTION IMPERATIVE Kathmandu, 18 Oct.: Major opposition parties-- Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML -- at a meeting on Wednesday concluded that holding of fresh elections has become imperative and that forming a new election government should be the first step toward that, Tirtha L.Bsusal writes in Republica. Leaders from the two parties vowed to be prepared for fresh elections without being confused by different proposals from UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. CPN-UML leader and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said there would be no talks on reviving the Constituent Assembly (CA) in the days to come. "There is no point of debating over CA revival or any other options. Now, there is no alternative to fresh elections," Nepal told reporters after the two-party talks held at a hotel in Baneshwar on Wednesday evening. "We shouldn´t waste more time being bewildered by Puhspa Kamal Dahal´s ever-changing proposals." NC leader Ram Sharan Mahat said the two-party meeting drew a conclusion that they should head for new election by forming a national consensus government. "Any negotiation over CA revival has become completely irrelevant and we decided not to enter into such discussions now onwards," Mahat told Republica. "Holding of fresh elections has become imperative and forming new election government should be the first step toward that." Lately, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been lobbying for reviving the CA and promulgating new constitution through the body. However, leaders from NC and CPN-UML stand divided over the issue. While NC President Sushil Koirala is against reviving the 601-member jumbo house, other two leaders - Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Paudel from the same party are for resurrecting the Assembly. Though Deuba was not present at the two-party talks, Paudel was there. According to leaders present there, Paudel didn´t object to the two-party decision to go for fresh polls. "There is no objection to the decision from any leader from the two parties because resolving disputes in constitution writing has become unlikely," Mahat explained. Also, the opposition parties concluded that UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai were the main stumbling blocks in forging consensus among the major political parties and decided to pile pressure on them to be ready for national unity government by launching massive protests. "Leaders from both the parties were on the view that they must launch massive protests to bring the Maoists to their knees," UML leader Raghuji Pant, who was present at the meeting, told Republica. "We will take to the streets after Dashain and Tihar festivals." President Koirala, Vice-President Paudel and other leaders Prakash Man Singh, Krishna Sitaula and Ram Sharan Mahat from the NC and party chairman Jhalanath Khanal, former Prime Minister Nepal, Bamdev Gautam, Ishwar Pokharel and Pant from the UML were present at the two-party talks. Nnnn ________________________________________ ________________________________________ DAHAL FLIP-FLOP PROLONGIG DEADLOCK SAYS UML Kathmandu, 18 Oct.:: CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and other leaders of the party have held UCPN (Maoist) leaders responsible for prolonging the political deadlock by flip-flopping in their stance between holding fresh elections and reviving the dissolved Constituent Assembly (CA), Republica reports. Khanal said UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was creating confusion and adding uncertainty to the political discourse by floating one proposal after another within the span of a few weeks. "The UCPN (Maoist) party campaigned for elections for some weeks and then its chairman lobbied for CA revival. This has added confusion to current politics," Khanal said at a function organized by the UML´s youth wing in Kathmandu, Wednesday. "The only way now to end the confusion is to go for fresh elections." He claimed that no one could predict when Dahal would come up with a new proposal or switch back to an old one already rejected by himself. Khanal argued that another reason why elections have become essential is that "society has undergone massive changes" since the latest elections. Lately, Dahal has been lobbying for reinstating the CA even though the 601-member body saw its demise on May 27 without promulgating a new constitution. While Dahal has been seeking the support of other parties to revive the CA, leaders from Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML are divided between the two options-- going for fresh elections or reviving the CA. CPN-UML General Secretary Ishwar Pokharel, at a separate gathering, told journalists that resurrecting the dead CA was not practical and described the ongoing arguments over the issue as merely academic. Pokharel argued that reviving the CA was not possible on political, constitutional and moral grounds. He also said one must not forget about the Supreme Court ruling in this connection. "The apex court has categorically said that the CA can´t be extended any further beyond May 27 [2012]. Reviving that body in contravention of the apex court ruling would be tantamount to contempt of court," Pokharel explained. The party´s spokesman, Pradeep Gyawali, said he believed Dahal´s proposal to revive the CA was a Maoist ploy to prolong the transitional period and continue in power longer. At one point the UML and NC had said they might opt for CA revival if the parties were able to resolve the disputes in constitution writing prior to the revival. "Our firm stance was that the basis of agreement should be the May 15 deal reached among the major parties. As both the UCPN (Maoist) and Madhes-based parties have already turned down the proposal, there is no longer any relevance to reviving the CA," said Gyawali. Nnnn ________________________________________ NT PARTNER SHOULD INVEST RS. 10 BILLION PLUS Kathmandu, 18 Oct.: The committee which was formed to recommend the government about the process of bringing a strategic partner at Nepal Telecom (NT) has concluded that the new partner should invest at least Rs 30 to Rs 40 billion, The Himalayan Times reports. The partner must invest Rs 30-Rs 40 billion based on share value of NT at present, said coordinator of the committee and joint secretary at finance ministry Baikuntha Aryal. Bringing in a strategic partner for NT is not easy, he said. “However, government must divest its shares to make the company more competitive and effective in the days ahead.” The government and the strategic partner must not be allowed to transfer their shares until after five years of acquiring the shares, the committee has said. The report has suggested the government to calculate the share value of the company based on the premium valuation method. It has also suggested that the strategic partner should have an experience in operating telecom services in at least three countries including a country from the G22 group. The aspirant partner should have an experience of handling at least 20 million subscribers in PSTN and mobile service, the report said, adding that the partner company should not directly or indirectly invest in other telecom service providers in the country. The report has asked government to bring in only those firms whose yearly income is more than $ 1 billion. It has asked the government to include a representative from the company which will come as a strategic partner in the executive board of Nepal Telecom. It has suggested all concerned parties to keep the option of retirement schemes open to make the company more competitive. Nnnn DAHAL SOUNDS OPTIMISTIC NOTE Kathmandu, 18 Oct.: Unified CPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal today said political parties would reach understanding on reviving the dissolved Constituent Assembly to promulgate the new constitution by Tihar, which falls on November 30, The Himalayan Times reports. Dahal said the next elections would be held under the new constitution, which would also resolve disputed issues, including those related to federalism. He said this while talking to mediapersons at Tribhuvan International Airport upon arrival from a week-long visit to Belgium, where he addressed a meeting of the Nepali Diaspora and an informal talk programme, held by a member of the European Parliament from the UK. Even as President Ram Baran Yadav ruled out revival of the dissolved CA, Dahal said a revived CA would adopt the new constitution incorporating the agreed issues and the parties would be free to go to the people making the unresolved issues their election agenda. Talking about the President, Dahal said the former had clearly said that he “is not a Congress leader”. “What the President has talked about recently is a different issue,” Dahal said, adding: “I do not want to comment on it. As far as I understand, the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, they are ready to promulgate the new constitution through a revived CA on the basis of consensus.” The parties may have made public their respective stances for public consumption, Dahal said, adding, “But the new constitution can be adopted by reinstating the dissolved CA.” He said it would be the best option to go for election by adopting the new constitution incorporating the agreed issues. He expressed confidence that opposition parties would agree to revive the CA. “I cannot give you the exact date and time, but we will be able to bury our differences,” he said, adding that the parties were close to a deal. Dwelling on the reported misunderstanding between the President and the Prime Minister, Dahal said he telephoned the latter from Belgium yesterday and he was informed that the country was moving towards consensus. He said he would actively engage in talks with other parties to build national consensus. During his visit to Europe, he assured European leaders and the Nepali Diaspora that the political deadlock wold end at the earliest and elections would be held. nnnn