NC CLOSES DOWN SINDHULIMADI Kathmandu, 7 Jan.: A bandh called by NC closed down Shndhulimadi Mondy for the fifth consecutive day with market and schools closed and transport disrupted. The party is demanding compensation the family of an activist who died in da clsh in district prison besides a judicial inquiry into the death. CLASH IN RUKUM Kathmandu, 7 Jan.: A clash took place between the police and Nepali Congress activists at Bagbazaar in district headquarters Khalanga early on Monday morning, RSS reports from Rukum. The incident occurred when NC cadres resorted to vandalise vehicles for defying today's shutdown of Rukum enforced by the party. As many as a dozen cadres of the party including its leader and former Minister of State Gopalji Jung Shah, district President Man Bahadur Nepali, Nepal Tarun Dal President Nanda Bista, Khadak Dangi. The situation now in Khalanga is tense. However, talks between the district administration and NC leaders are under way. The meeting reached an agreement to resume vehicular movement. Though the transportation service has come into resumption, main market areas, schools and colleges around headquarters have remained closed. NC cadres took out to street since early this morning to enforce shutdown and obstruct road traffic. The party enforced Rukum shutdown in protest of the murder of its Duli Village Committee President Kabiram Khatry, said the NC district sources. It has warned to launch strong protest if the party's demands were not heeded. RSS Nnnn MAN ARRESTED WITH BROWN SUGAR Kathmandu, 7 Jan.: The Makawanpur Police have arrest ed a person along with brown sugar while checking a night bus en route to Chitwan in Ratamate along the East-West Highway on Sunday night, RSS reports from Hetauda . The arrest ed was Nikhil Gurung, 22, of Khaireni VDC Cof hitawan. He was found hiding the banned drugs in his mobile set. He was taken to custody for further investigation, according to the Makawanpur District Office. nnnn NC DIVIDED OVER PRESIDENUIAL ROLE Kathmandu, 7 Jan.: As the Nepali Congress (NC) continues to stick to its guns on the party’s government leadership for holding fresh polls, rival Congress factions are divided over the role of President Ram Baran Yadav on ending the present political inpasse, Kamal Dev Bhattarai writes in The Kathmandu Post/. Party President Sushil Koirala and leaders loyal to him place emphasis on a presidential intervention to remove Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and appoint a new executive of the country. NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and his camp hold that President Yadav cannot appoint a new prime minister without a broader consensus among the parties. The Koirala faction, however, is of the view that as the parties recurrently failed to provide a consensual prime ministerial candidate, the head of state should appoint a new PM on the basis of majority votes garnered in the dissolved Constituent Assembly (CA). On the contrary, Deuba and his loyalists believe that any move by the President to remove the current government arbitrarily will invite a confrontation in the country. One and a half months have already elapsed since President Yadav called on the parties to recommend a common prime ministerial candidate. However, the parties couldn’t come up with a power-sharing deal and ensure fresh polls. Their failure has diminished the chances of holding polls in April-May. Koirala, his deputy Ram Chandra Poudel and supporters are publicly urging the head of state to provide an outlet by appointing a new PM. They argue that the President should conclude the process he initiated on November 23 to form a national unity government. “No agreement has been reached as to who should be the next prime minister. Hence, the President should pick a PM, who, he thinks, is capable to hold the Constituent Assembly elections,” said NC leader Ram Saran Mahat on Sunday. The Deuba faction observes that any step from the President to appoint a new PM without first taking the major parties into confidence would invite another crisis in the country. It feels that the opposition parties should hit streets to unseat the incumbent government rather than instigating the President to take such steps. The Team Deuba is displeased with Koirala for making the party ‘fall prey to indecision and ambiguity’. A leader close to Deuba said some leaders aligned with Koirala are holding regular negotiations with the UCPN (Maoist) leadership by keeping them in the dark. “A few leaders are holding talks with the UCPN (Maoist) since the CA dissolution, but there has not been any progress,” he said. Deuba and his aides say the President cannot appoint a majority prime minister based on the Article 38 (2) of the Interim Constitution, as there is no parliament at present. “It is the duty of the political parties to select a prime ministerial candidate. Without a broader consensus among them, the president cannot appoint a new prime minister,” said NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi, close to Deuba. “The President is not responsible for the delay in forming a new government. A political deal has remained elusive due to the irresponsibility of the parties,” he said. Nnnn WOMEN ACTIVISTS COME UNDER FIRE Kathmandu, 7 Jan.: With the possibility of victims of gender-based violence getting justice marred by government inaction, senior women rights activists Renu Rajbhandari and Sapana Pradhan Malla have also ‘betrayed’ the overall campaign by not being accountable to victims during investigations, protesters at the Occupy Baluwatar campaign said, The Kathmandu Post writes.. Both Malla and Rajbhandari, who are representing protesters in an eight-member VAW (Violence Against Women) monitoring committee led by Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office Raju Man Singh Malla, on Saturday shunned the field inspection of the mysterious murder of Bindu Thakur of Bara district. While Malla refused to join the monitoring panel citing health reasons, Rajbhandari accompanied the monitoring team upto Hetauda and then parted with the group for “personal reasons.” Protesters criticised the activist duo for “cheating” them and the campaign. They accused them of not attending protests and not being accountable for justice to victims and their families. “Many are unhappy with the actions of these people, whom we blindly trusted. They should have handed down the responsibility if they had other work,” said Manoj Khadka, one of the protesters. Saying that such unaccountable acts would affect free and fair investigations, protesters said they would ask Rajbhandari and Malla to clarify. Malla, however, said they have been performing their duties as honestly as possible. She claimed that investigations on the mysterious deaths of Saraswati Subedi and Thakur, the murder of Shiwa Hasami, the disappearance of Chhori Maiya Maharjan and the robbery and rape of Sita Rai are going on smoothly. “There is no point in doubting our honesty. We are being constantly updated with reports on the progress of the investigations. Even the prime minister has shown willingness to punish the accused,” said Malla, a winner of the 2008 Gruber Prize for Women’s Rights. Rajbhandari, however, was unavailable for comment. nnnn