NEPAL SAMBAT TO BE OFFICIAL NEXT YEAR SAYS PM BHATTARAI Kathmandu, 14 Nov.: Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has said the Nepal Sambat will be brought into implementation from next year. Inaugurating a motorcycle rally organized by the Sankata Club to mark the new year of Nepal Sambat 1133 here today, he said as the government has already accepted the Nepal Sambat; it will be made practical by giving public holiday from next year. The Nepal Sambat started by national luminary Shankhadhar Sakhwa is a common calendar of the Nepalese, he said and prayed that the New Year inspire us all for bringing federalism with identity and constitution with federalism. Club Chairman Indraman Tuladhar said it should be brought into practical use as it is a national calendar. Also participating in the programme were club's former chairman and former minister Dr. Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, representatives of various political parties and social workers. The rally which started from the Sankata Temple premises at Tebahal of Kathmandu, went through various parts of Kathmandu, Kirtipur and Lalitpur and concluded at Tebahal. Participating in the rally were 22 tole improvement committees and Lions Clubs of Kathmandu and other organisation. Nnnn MAOIST CHIEF DARES Kathmandu, 14 Nov.: Chairman of the UCPN-Maoist, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, has suggested that the opposition parties bring a full-fledged budget if the budget to be brought by the government was not acceptable to them, RSS writes . Addressing a Deusi-Bhailo programme organized by the Reporters' Club Nepal, Dahal said the government was ready to agree to a budget of their favour brought by the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, but the country could not remain without a budget. Clarifying that he was not lured by the post of Prime Minister and President, Dahal said no consensus would be forged by isolating Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and added that leadership of Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai was not the last alternative of the UCPN-Maoist. He said a national consensus government could be led by other parties and ruling coalition as well. The UCPN-Maoist Chairman said that there was dispute on leadership of the national consensus government though political parties have already agreed on other issues. Claiming that consensus among all disputed issues including budget would be forged within November 16, he said the situation of the country is very critical and added that he was worried whether or not the changes brought by peoples' movement and people's war would be institutionalized. Meanwhile, Chairman of the CPN-UML, Jhalanath Khanal, blamed that the UCPN-Moist led government has been hatching conspiracy to invite confrontation in the country. Addressing a similar programme, Khanal said the government was the obstacle to ending current political stalemate and added the country would not move ahead until the exit of the incumbent government. Responding to a query by media persons on the challenges given by Dahal to prepare a budget, Khanal said no opposition party in the world has brought a budget. Stating that formation of a national consensus government was necessary to bring the budget, he clarified that the NC and CPN-UML want a national consensus government, election and constitution in the country, not power. Nnnn PM GARLANDS STATUE OF SAKHWA Kathmandu, 14 Nov.: Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has said Nepal's political parties should also be able to internalize economic prosperity and unity like Nepal's national luminary, Shankhadhar Sakhwa, RSS writes.. At a greetings exchange and garlanding programme organized by the National Luminary Shankhadhar Sakhwa Foundation Madhyapur Thimi to mark the new year of Nepal Sambat 1133, the Prime Minister said the government will bring a programme to give holiday on the Nepal Sambat new year and decide to celebrate it with separate special programmes. Bhattarai also made commitment to include Sakhwa's biography in curriculum and to open a Sakhwa Museum for informing the foreigners. CPN-Maoist Vice Chairman CP Gajurel claimed that no consensus will be reached no matter how many times the president would direct the parties, and how many meetings of parties are held. Constitution will not be made in this situation, said Gajurel, adding new path should be adopted for making the constitution. RPP Chairman Pashupati Shumser said national campaign should be started to make Nepal Sambat nationwide. RPP- Nepal Chairman Kamal Thapa said Nepal Sambat is a calendar of the Nepalese and not only that of any community. CPN- UML central leader Krishna Gopal Shrestha said facts on Sakhwa should be included in curriculum and holiday should be given on New Year's day. The Prime Minister also honored the late Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai posthumously, who declared Sakhwa as national luminary in NS 1120. Binod Kumar Bhattarai, nephew of the late PM Bhattarai, accepted the honour on his behalf. At the programme, historian Jagadish Chandra Regmi was honored with dosalla for his research on Nepal Sambat and Sakhwa. The programme was presided over by Foundation Chairman Shyam Krishna Manandhar, whereas Nepa National Party Vice Chairman Naresh Bir Shakya also expressed best wishes. Nnnn ANOTHER FIRE IN DAYAPUR Kathmandu, 14 Nov.:: Property worth Rs. one million was gutted in fire due to electric short circuit at Triyuga Municipality-1 in Udayapur district Tuesday night, RSS reports from Udyapur.. According to Police-Inspector at the District Police Office, Udaypur, Krishna Paudel, property worth one million rupees including three tolas of gold, Rs. 80,000 and two television sets were destroyed by fire that was ignited in the room of Junior Warrant officer, Dhan Bahadur Tamang, working at Nandabox Battalion, Chitwan. Police brought the fire under control during the same night. Tamang is from Thulachhap VDC-6 in Okhaldhunga district. Nnnn HU CLEARS WAY FOR SUCCESSOR Kathmandu, 14 Nov.: President Hu Jintao stepped aside as ruling party leader Wednesday to clear the way for Vice President Xi Jinping to take China's helm as part of only the second orderly transfer of power in 63 years of communist rule, AP reports from Beijing.. Hu and senior leaders mostly in their late 60s are handing over power to the leader-in-waiting Xi and other colleagues in their late 50s over the next several months. The new leadership faces daunting challenges including slowing growth in the world's No. 2 economy, rising unrest among increasing assertive citizens and delicate relations with neighboring countries. In keeping with the widely anticipated succession plans, Hu was not re-elected a member of the party's Central Committee on the final day of a pivotal party congress, showing that he's no longer in the leadership, said two delegates, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official list of members had not yet been released. It was still unclear whether Hu would relinquish his most powerful remaining position as head of the commission that oversees the military, or hold onto it for a transitional period as previous retiring leaders have done. Delegates said they cheered when the announced results of secret balloting showed that Xi had been unanimously chosen for the committee, a step toward being named to the topmost panel, the Politburo Standing Committee, and becoming party leader as expected on Thursday. Li Keqiang, designated as the next premier, also was elected to the panel. "We were very happy, and the whole assembly responded with warm applause," said delegate Si Zefu, president of the Dongfang Electric Corporation based in the central city of Chengdu. As the final day of the weeklong congress drew to a close in the Great Hall of the People, after reporters were invited into the secretive proceedings, Hu gathered papers before him on the dais of leaders, shook hands with people in the row behind him and walked off the stage. Sitting on the dais next to Hu was his predecessor, 86-year-old Jiang Zemin, who has emerged as a key power-broker, maneuvering his allies into the leadership at the expense of Hu. Jiang had to be helped up by attendants when congress members stood for the communist anthem, the Internationale. Afterward, Jiang turned to Hu and shook hands before being escorted offstage. The party's 2,200-plus delegates also rubber-stamped the report Hu delivered last week committing the party to continuing a pro-economic growth agenda while retaining firm political control. Hu urged stronger measures to rein in corruption and make the government more responsive to public demands, but offered little in the way of specifics. The next lineup of China's most powerful body, the Politburo Standing Committee, will be announced on Thursday. Though congress and Central Committee delegates have some influence over leadership decisions, most of the lineup is decided among a core group of the most powerful party members and elders. The congress votes are "fully democratic" but "there is a degree of inevitability," actor and party delegate Song Guofeng of Liaoning province said as entered the hall Wednesday for the final session. "We need to have continuity in leadership to carry on," Song said. "They are already in the leadership core. The stability of the party and of the county is important." Xi and Li — part of a generation schooled at a time of more openness to the West than their predecessors — were inducted into the leadership five years ago and are shoo-ins for the Standing Committee. But other positions on the panel were believed up for grabs and the subject of intense jockeying ahead of the congress. The committee currently has nine members but may be reduced to seven. Wang Qishan, another vice premier, was named to the party's disciplinary body in a sign he would likely be named to the top committee. China's leadership transitions are always occasions for fractious backroom bargaining, but this one has been further complicated by scandals that have fed public cynicism that their leaders are more concerned with power and wealth than government. In recent months, Bo Xilai, a senior politician seen as a rising star, was purged after his aide exposed that his wife murdered a British businessman. An ally of Hu's was sidelined after his son died in the crash of a Ferrari he shouldn't have been able to afford. And foreign media recently reported that relatives of Xi and outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao had amassed vast wealth. The scandals have weakened Hu, on whose watch they occurred. Hu took over as party boss in 2002 in the first power transfer that did not involve the death of a leader or the unseating of a designated successor. He will remain in the largely ceremonial post of president until March. Whether or not he remains head of the military commission should become known Thursday when the next leadership slate is announced. "He wishes to" stay on, said Zhang Jian, a political scientist at Peking University's School of Government. "But the question is whether or not he succeeded." However, many analysts have said in recent days they believe Hu has resolved to step down from all posts, in part to set a precedent that retiring leaders remove themselves from politics entirely, unlike Jiang, who held onto the post for two years after his retirement as party head. "It could be a gesture of slapping Jiang's face," said Warren Sun, a Chinese leadership expert at Australia's Monash University. In a nod to Hu's 10 years in power, the congress upgraded his pet theory, the Scientific Outlook on Development, to rank alongside other key schools of thought in the party constitution such as Marxism-Leninsim and Mao Zedong Thought. Hu's program called for more balanced growth in an attempt to distribute benefits more fairly across society. The congress is a largely ceremonial gathering of representatives — mostly carefully selected from the national and provincial political and military elite. The real deal-making for the top positions is done behind the scenes by the true power-holders. The newly selected Central Committee meets Thursday to select the next Politburo and from that, the Politburo Standing Committee. Nnnn