SHRESTHA DECLARED US SOLDIER OF YEAR Kathmandi, 26 Oct : Sergeant Saral Kumar Shrestha was named "2012 Soldier of the Year" of the US Army during an award ceremony in Washington, D.C. as stated by Army News Service, RSS reports. Sgt. Shrestha came to the US at the very young age of 17 for higher studies in 2006 and joined the US Army in 2009. Sgt. Shrestha is a power generation equipment repairer with Bachelors degree in Computer Information Science Networking and is assigned to US Army Special Forces Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He has served three years in the US Army and has completed his assignment in Afghanistan. Sgt. Shrestha credits his wife Elisha for his success and he is the youngest child of Dr. Ramesh Kumar Shrestha of Naxal, Kathmandu. Sgt. Shrestha along with his wife visited the Embassy of Nepal in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. Mr. Arjun Kant Mainali, Deputy Chief of Mission and other staffs welcomed him at the Embassy. Nnnn ________________________________________ MAOIST CHIEF’S NEW PROPOSAL TO END ROADBLOCK Kathmandu,27 Oct . UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has floated a new proposal before President Ram Baran Yadav on ending the protracted political stalemate and sought the head of state´s support in his latest efforts, Repubublica reports. "I have floated a new proposal before the president on ending the political deadlock and I am hopeful of getting his support in this initiative," Dahal told reporters while emerging from the president´s office at Shital Niwas on Thursday. He however didn´t disclose details about his latest proposal. The Maoist chairman was optimistic for an agreement among the major political forces on his proposal in the next couple of weeks. Dahal also informed that he sought an appointment with the president especially in a bid to get the latter´s nod on his proposal. President´s personal assistant Lalit Basnet said the head of state in response suggested Dahal to discuss the proposal with leaders from other political parties and find a consensus. Basnet and UCPN (Maoist) Spokesman Agni Prasad Sapkota refused to divulge the contents of the proposal. Sapkota, who is close to Dahal, however said that Dahal´s priority was still for seeking solution through the revived CA. "We can assume that our chairman´s new proposal would give priority for CA revival because this option is less risky and less expensive in comparison to holding fresh elections," Sapkota told Republica. He said that Dahal talked to the president seeking the latter´s support because "it has become urgent to take a special decision in this special political situation". Sapkota said Dahal was going to float his new political roadmap before leaders from other political parties. "May be he will start holding talks on the proposal with other parties starting tomorrow [Saturday]," he said. Lately, Dahal has been lobbying for CA revival for the purpose of promulgating new constitution. Recently President Yadav summoned leaders of political parties in a bid to press them to find an amicable solution in political understanding. On October 20, he summoned the chiefs of over two dozen political parties and expressed serious concern over the leaders´ failure to end the political stalemate despite repeated commitments they made before him to do so. Paudel reiterates CA revival Meanwhile, Nepali Congress (NC) Vice-President Ram Chandra Paudel reiterated that the dissolved CA should be reinstated for a brief period for the purpose of promulgating new constitution. He made it clear that the disputes in the major provisions of new constitutions should be resolved and an agreement should be sealed prior to resurrecting the CA. "We need reach an agreement over the integrated draft of the new constitution and need to ensure that no one will backtrack from the agreement once the draft is floated in the revived House for endorsement," Paudel told reporters gathered at his residence on Friday. "Otherwise we have to go for fresh elections." Paudel´s remarks has come at a time when key leaders from the major opposition NC have remained divided over the two options - either to go for fresh CA elections or revive the CA to promulgate the new constitution -- to end the political stalemate. The NC President Sushil Koirala and some other leaders have firmly stood against reviving the dead body while two other leaders - former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Paudel are for resurrecting the Assembly. Paudel was of the view that reviving the CA had become essential also to pave the way for holding fresh elections by amending election-related provisions in the Interim Constitution and laws and to appoint heads and members in the crucial constitutional bodies such as Election Commission and Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority. He criticized those leaders, who have been opposing the idea of CA revival, for not being able to float a better proposal to end the political stalemate. Nnnn ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________