Bhattarai claims only Maoists can lead government in Nepal

September 16th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Reacting to Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's two-day visit to Nepal, the opposition Maoist party Wednesday claimed her "unofficial agenda" was to assess a new prime minister for the Himalayan republic. "The present government of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has failed," said Chandra Prakash Gajurel, Maoist lawmaker and politburo member of the former guerrilla party.

September 16th, 2009 KATHMANDU - The meeting between the Nepal Government and the Maoists to end the ongoing deadlock ended inconclusively as Maoists stuck to their demand on passing a resolution against President Ram Baran Yadav. The meeting took place between the CPN (UML), the Nepali Congress and the Unified CPN (Maoist) in Singha Durbar on Tuesday.

September 13th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal police faced a tough time in providing security to the country's Finance Minister, Surendra Pandey as Maoist protestors pelted stones at his vehicle on Saturday. Pandey, who was in Chipledhunga-Pokhara, about 200 kilometres from Kathmandu, to inaugurate Golden News Daily, had to return without attending the function.

August 3rd, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's former guerrilla party, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Monday warned that if new Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal did not dissolve his coalition government within 72 hours and make way for a Maoist-led national government, it would start a new protest movement both from the street and parliament. "The current government is unconstitutional and illegal," said Maoist leader and former finance minister Baburam Bhattarai, who along with two more senior party leaders will head the new movement against the current government.

August 1st, 2009 KATHMANDU - Almost three months after he was sworn in as republican Nepal's second prime minister, veteran communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal will begin his much-awaited visit to India on Aug 18, his foreign affairs advisor said Saturday. The 56-year-old, whose childhood was spent in the Indian border town Sitamarhi, will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, president of the ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi and other Indian ministers and senior officials.

July 26th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Sunday dismissed reports in the Nepali and Indian media that his government was on an arms-shopping spree in India, saying they were "baseless rumours". Summoned by a parliamentary committee Sunday to clarify his coalition government's stand on making fresh arms purchases from India and other internal issues, the communist leader said his government would not do anything to endanger the ongoing peace process.

July 10th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Though they ended their two-month siege of parliament, Nepal's former guerrilla party, the Maoists, Friday indicated they would keep up their opposition to the new ruling alliance by rejecting its policies and programmes for the current financial year. "Since this government was formed due to an illegal and unconstitutional step taken by the president (Ram Baran Yadav), its policies and programmes too are illegal and unconstitutional," veteran Maoist leader and former finance minister Baburam Bhattarai told the media Friday.

July 3rd, 2009 KATHMANDU - Given only a couple more weeks by the Maoists and unable to table the budget in parliament due to their opposition, Nepal's beleaguered Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Friday expanded his cabinet in a surprise move, inducting two more ministers. With this fourth expansion, the cabinet now has 32 ministers with yet another induction in the pipeline.

June 24th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Closely watching the battle in India's West Bengal state between security forces and tribals backed by Indian Maoists, Nepal, the survivor of a decade-old Maoist uprising, Wednesday said the neighbouring country's decision to ban the Left radicals was its own internal affair. "It is the decision taken by a sovereign country," said Shankar Pokhrel, Nepal's information and communications minister who is also the spokesman of the communist-led government that came to power last month after the fall of the country's first Maoist government.

June 22nd, 2009 KATHMANDU - CPN (UML) leader KP Sharma Oli has said that the Maoists would join the government within two months.peaking to journalists at Tribhuvan International Airport here on Sunday on his arrival after completing his ten-day visit to India, Oli said the peace process would not succeed without the participation of Maoists. "Peace process will not reach a logical conclusion just by a consensus among Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal," he added.

May 27th, 2009 KATHMANDU - The Unified CPN (Maoist) has refused Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's call to join the government. Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, Maoist spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma said there is no possibility of them joining the government or working together until 'civil supremacy' is maintained.

May 3rd, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's Finance Minister and senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai on Sunday claimed that the army had accepted the "new leadership" that was taking over command following the government decision. "The army command has already accepted the new leadership and everything is moving ahead normally," Bhattarai was quoted by Nepal News as telling to media persons after a brief meeting with five fringe parties on Sunday afternoon.

April 23rd, 2009 KATHMANDU - Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has started talks with the diplomatic mission chiefs here over the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Rookmangad Katawal row. Envoys from eight countries including the United States, United Kingdom, India, China and Japan are attending the meeting at the PM's residence in Baluwatar today.

April 21st, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has said that the Chief of Army Staff General Rookmangud Katawal could be sacked if he fails to furnish clarification on some serious issues. Dr Bhattarai said that if General Katawal failed to defend himself against charges of "grossly" defying government orders, he would be relieved of his command.

March 9th, 2009 KATHMANDU - With former prime minister and opposition leader Girija Prasad Koirala scheduled to leave for India Wednesday, Nepal's ruling Maoist party Monday said a conspiracy was hatching in New Delhi to reinstate monarchy in the new Himalayan republic. 'A new pact is being signed in New Delhi against the Maoist government,' said the Janadisha daily, regarded as the mouthpiece of the former guerrilla party.