Nepal Political Economy News In Brief (30 - 3 October 2013)

Khadka Nominated NC Joint General Secretary

Nepali Congress (NC) Central Working Committee (CWC) has appointed Purna Bahadur Khadka as its joint general secretary. The meeting of the CWC held last Monday (September 23) nominated Khadka from the senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba faction. The post was lying vacant since the party’s general convention in 2010 due to the intra feuds between the party president Sushil Koirala and the Deuba faction. 

 

Envoy Sharma Recalled

The government has recalled Nepal’s ambassador to Qatar, Maya Kumari Sharma, following a controversy over her remarks calling Qatar an “open jail”. The meeting of Council of Ministers held last Thursday made such a decision after Sharma reportedly refused to resign from the post. Maya Kumari Sharma had made the remarks in an interview with the BBC Nepali service six months ago. Following the controversies, Ambassador of Qatar to Nepal Ahmed Jasem Al-Hamar had also taken the issue with Foreign Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire.

 

 

Bodde Calls on Regmi

American Ambassador to Nepal Peter W. Bodde met Chairman of the Council of Ministers Khil Raj Regmi last Wednesday, a day prior to Regmi’s visit to the US for taking part in the 68th General Assembly of the United Nations. During the meeting the duo discussed the latest political developments, preparation of the Constituent Assembly Election and the ongoing 68th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, among others.

 

Parties Busy Selecting Poll Sandidates

As the election of the Constituent Assembly scheduled for November 19 approaches nearer, the major political parties are busy in the process of picking up candidates for the polls. The Election Commission has allocated the deadline for filing the nomination of candidates under first-past-the-post system for October 3 and proportional system for September 30. The major parties including UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have intensified the process to select the candidates keeping in view the deadline of the EC. According to the Central Working Committee Member of the NC, Minendra Rijal, the recently formed Parliamentary Board of his party is holding meetings regularly to finalise the candidate list for the CA polls. Likewise, the UCPN (Maoist) and CPN (UML) are likely to finalise their candidates within a few days and make it public.

 

Army Mobilisation Decision Flayed

CPN-Maoist-led 33-party alliance has criticised the government’s decision to mobilise the Nepal Army for security in order to maintain security during the near-coming CA elections. CPN-Maoist secretary Dev Gurung argued that it was against democratic norms to mobilise the army for security during the polls. The alliance has claimed that the mobilization of the army would further invite confrontation. 

 

Paswan Back to UCPN (Maoist)

CPN-Maoist central committee member Mahendra Paswan rejoined the UCPN (Maoist) last Wednesday deserting the CPN-Maoist party. Paswan along with other CPN-Maoist leaders, Dhiraj Patel and Hari Gyanwali, also joined the UCPN (Maoist) party. The three left the UCPN (Maoist) breakaway faction CPN-Maoist last Tuesday.  Though they had announced the formation of CPN-Maoist (Revolutionary) party, their return to the UCPN (Maoist) has been seen as an attempt to ensure tickets for the upcoming CA polls.