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No option to national consensus govt: Bhattarai
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Dr Baburam Bhattarai
No option to national consensus govt: Bhattarai
Unified CPN (Maoist) vice chairman Baburam Bhattarai has reiterated there is no option to a national consensus government comprising of UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), UML and the Madhes-based parties for successful completion of the peace process and timely promulgation of the constitution.
At a meeting with British ambassador to Nepal Andrew Hall at his residence in Naya Baneshwar Wednesday morning Bhattarai stressed on the need of a national consensus government saying a majority government like the present one cannot serve the agenda of peace and constitution.
Hall had gone to Bhattarai's residence to pay a courtesy call before returning after completing his tenure in Nepal.
At the meeting British ambassador Hall asked Bhattarai about the future political course as the legislature parliament failed to elect Prime Minister twice.
In response, Bhattarai said the parties should strive for a consensus before the next election on August 2 and find an alternative way to form a consensus government if the elections on August 2 also fail to elect a PM.
Bhattarai returned to Kathmandu after staying for few days in Kakani, Nuwakot. His statement about changing the parliamentary regulations for national consensus government had drawn criticism from leaders close to chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal earlier.
Madhesi parties won't stay neutral in Aug 2 run-off: Yadav
Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) chairman Upendra Yadav has said the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), the alliance of four Madhesi parties including MJF, will not stay neutral in the third prime ministerial run-off slated for August 2.
"We have been discussing that we should not stay neutral in the next voting for the prime minister. We will arrive at a decision by then," Yadav said while speaking at the Reporters Club Wednesday.
"We are clear that the nation should get new prime minister on August 2," he said, "The ball in the court of the Maoists and the Nepali Congress." According to him, the UDMF will support a party that agrees on the terms set by it.
The Madhei parties will launch agitation jointly if the issues raised by them are not addressed, he warned.
"Federalism became possible only after the 22-point and 8-point agreements with Madhesi parties. Now we are demanding implementation of these agreements," he added.
Denying the allegations that the Madhesi parties are engaging in a bargain, the MJF chief said his partyis maintaining equal distance with the Nepali Congress and the Unified CPN (Maoist) and that it is being wrongly accused of being closer to the Maoists.
Government lifts Iraq working ban
The government in Nepal has lifted a ban that prohibited Nepalis from seeking work in Iraq.
The ban had left 30,000 Nepalis already in Iraq at risk of losing their jobs because of a demand by the US for contractors to prove that their staff were in Iraq legitimately.
The ban was introduced in 2004 when 12 Nepalis working in Iraq were killed.
Correspondents say the comparatively high wages made tens of thousands defy the ban.
The government said it took the decision to protect the interests of migrant workers in Iraq after the US Central Command directed all companies working for it to remove workers not in compliance with local, international and US laws.
It is estimated that most of the 30,000 Nepalese working in Iraq got there through illegal channels.
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