BANKE: Nepalgunj Sub-metropolis has chosen lottery system to decide foreign visits of its representative. The move was taken following an intense debate among the Nepali Congress representatives as to who would occupy a quota among three quotas for foreign visit allocated to the party.

The local government has 10 quotas for Switzerland, Thailand and Dubai, according to Nepalgunj-11 Ward Chair, Ujjawal Singh Rathaur. There was a heated debate among the Nepali Congress local representatives as Deputy Mayor Uma Thapa Magar insisted that she deserved the opportunity.

KATHMANDU: Secretariat member of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Bamdev Gautam has said  a conspiracy is being hatched against him yet again.

Writing a Facebook status today, leader Gautam has said anti elements are hatching conspiracies against him over his participation in the funeral ceremony for late Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari in Pokhara.

“Conspiracies are afoot to taint my image yet again by misinterpreting my participation in the funeral ceremony of  late Rabindra Adhikari in Pokhara. Devastated by my beloved comrade Adhikari, I went to Pokhara to pay last respect to  Adhikari but my participation was misconstrued as my intention behind taking part in the by-elections from his constituency, dubbing it as ‘conspiratorial and insulting.”

Meanwhile, Gautam, on his Facebook, clarified that he would not take part in the elections from Adhikari’s constituency.

Taking part in the last rites in Pokhara, leaders Bamdev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha had draped party’s flag on Adhikari’s mortal remains while Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Ishwor Pokharel had draped a national flag.

Adhikari had been cremated at Ramghat, Pokhara with state honors yesterday. Seven people including Adhikari had died in an Air Dynasty chopper crash in Taplejung on Wednesday.

URLABARI: Chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Kamal Thapa has claimed that Hindu state would be restored at any cost.
Addressing a program at Urlabari of Morang on Friday, Thapa said Nepal would be established Hindu state through street protests as RPP does not have majority in the parliament.

The party is organizing ‘Mechi Mahakali National Dignity Campaign’.

He also warned of nation-wide protests if the government turned deaf ear to their demands before March 15. “We have submitted a 22-point memorandum to the Prime Minister calling for a referendum to decide the fate of Hindu state,” he said.

Likewise, Thapa also demanded that the government investigated the assets of the politicians and officials occupying public posts since 1991 by forming an independent probe commission.

KATHMANDU: National Assembly (NA) passed a condolence motion on the demise of Rabindra Adhikari, minister for Culture, Toursim and Civil Aviation, today. The minister passed away in a chopper crash in Taplejung on Wednesday. The motion of condolence was presented by Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, NA chairman. The NA meeting observed a moment of silence for a minute, wishing for eternal peace to the departed soul.

KATHMANDU: Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has condoled the demise of Air Dynasty crash victims.

On Thursday morning, Chairman Dahal visited the family members of late Rabindra Adhikari at the minister’s quarter in Harihar Bhawan, and expressed condolences over the tragic incident.

Dahal visited Adhikari’s father, mother, wife, and other family members and expressed sorrow over Adhikari’s demise.

Dahal also visited the family members of Chairman of Yeti Airlines Ang Chhiring Sherpa, Birendra Prasad Shrestha, Yubraj Dahal, Prime Minister K P Oli’s personal secretary Arjun Kumar Ghimire, Birendra Bhochibhaiya, and captain Prabhakar KC to express condolences.

Seven including Tourism Minister Adhikari died in an Air Dynasty crash in Taplejung yesterday.

KATHMANDU:  Nepali Congress (NC) leader Gagan Thapa said the rise in the religious conversion should be stopped. It is the freedom of choice of a person to adopt religion in the country with religious freedom, leader Thapa said.

Youth leader Thapa said this while attending the second day of the ‘Swarnim Shreemadbhagwat Bhakti Satsang Mahayagya-2075’ in Banepa. “The religious practices are free in Nepal but the state should stop the practice of forceful religious conversion”, he asserted.

KATHMANDU: The intra-party wrangling in the main opposition Nepali Congress has reached a new height after two influential leaders boycotted Tuesday’s central working committee meeting.

Disgruntled leaders Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who had earlier objected to the central committee’s decision endorsing the amended statute, eschewed the party’s meeting.

The party then postponed the meeting until further notice.

The two leaders did not attend the meeting, party source said. However, party General Secretary Shashanka Koirala attended the meeting.

The disgruntled faction of the party has been demanding that the discipline committee and the election committee be formed on the basis of consensus.

Tuesday’s meeting was expected to chalk out the differences about the formation of discipline and election committees.

The displeased leaders have criticized the party president Sher Bahadur Deuba for taking unilateral moves.

BHARATPUR: Parbati Shah Thakuri, deputy mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City,  has accused its Mayor Renu Dahal of being involved in corruption. Thakuri blamed the Mayor for not forming Public Accounts Committee, constituting important committees unilaterally and creating problems for employees thanks to political prejudices.

Similarly, she blamed her for not coordinating with her in operating executive meeting. In a press meet called by the deputy mayor here today, Thakuri narrated about the problems she encountered in the course of fulfilling her duties and responsibilities towards the municipality. “The agendas of the executive meeting have been brought in an unilateral manner. I am not informed about the meeting and its agenda on time. I am not even allowed to put forth my dissatisfaction,” she complained.

The Deputy Mayor complained that the Metropolitan City has not assigned sufficient number of technicians and employees as mentioned in the local-government operation act.

KATHMANDU: Chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Kamal Thapa has urged the government to form a powerful high-level commission to investigate the properties of post-1991 politicians and bureaucrats.

Speaking at a program in the capital today, Thapa said the government should form the commission entrusting it to carry out its tasks in an independent, fair manner.

Thapa also emphasized the need for nationalizing the properties deposited in foreign banks by Nepali nationals. “The government should immediately freeze the bank accounts of Nepali people,” he said.

The RPP supremo also urged the government to take legal action against people indulging in illegal transactions.
On the occasion, Thapa asked the government implicate those involved in the wide-body aircraft purchase scam. “All those who have been found to be involved in tax evasion scam should be punished,” Thapa demanded.

He also came down heavily on the government for failing to take action against some elements, who are carrying out activities aimed at disintegrating the country.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Thapa asked the government to take what he said ‘diplomatic initiatives’ to bring back the encroached upon Nepali territory at Lipulek, Susta, and Kalapani, among others.

He said it his high time that the government reviewed the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Thapa, a staunch supporter of constitutional monarchy, also called for a round table conference to establish a system accommodating all political forces.

RPP Chairman Thapa also reinforced the need for a referendum to decide the fate of federalism in the country.

KATHMANDU: Usha Manandhar, 25, a nurse at the Medacity Hospital was heading towards her residence at around 8 o’clock on Friday night at Nakhhu in Lalitpur when she heard a loud bang of a bomb that exploded near the Ncell office.

She got injured in the explosion and fell down unconscious. When she gained her sense, she was in the hospital.

Pratikshya Khadka, 26, a resident of Bagdol in Lalitpur, too, was heading towards her residence and fell victim to the same explosion. Both Manandhar and Khadka are improving gradually, according to Dr. Anil Acharya at the Medicity Hospital.

However, victim Singha Prasad Gurung, 49, a resident of Bhainsepati area lost his life. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has assured that the government will bear the treatment cost of the injured and that the culprits in the incident will be brought to justice.

Likewise, a few moments later after the Nakhhu incident, a pressure cooker bomb was found near the Aangan Sweets, a restaurant at Kamalpokhari in Kathmandu. A bomb squad from the Nepal army immediately diffused the bomb.

Likewise, Ncell towers were torched in different locations yesterday night, one at Chandrakalika hill in Pokhara and the other at Shuklaphanta Municipality-4 in Kanchanpur district.

Series of blasts in several parts of the country by unidentified groups has alerted the police administration. “We are now on high alert,” said Uttam Raj Subedi, spokesperson of Nepal Police.

The police has initiated a manhunt after the incident, said Rabindra Dhanuk, the Chief at the Lalitpur Metropolitan Police.

Police have taken some people in custody in connection with the incident but are yet to identify the culprits. The police suspect that Biplab group is behind the incident. That is because the Biplab group, a breakaway faction of the then Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had issued warnings to Ncell over charges of not paying tax to the government, not following the Supreme Court order, and deceiving its clients.