BRB fires verbal salvo at Gyanendra

KATHMANDU, JUL 24 -
UCPN (Maoist) ideologue Baburam Bhattarai said on Tuesday that former King Gyanendra Shah’s visit to different parts of the country is aimed at thwarting the November 19 Constituent Assembly elections.

The latest CPN-Maoist statement that an alliance could be possible with the former king on the issue of nationalism is a serious one, the former prime minister told reporters at his residence.

Hinting at CPN-Maoist leaders, Bhattarai said some ‘revolutionary forces’ are rallying around Gyanendra in the name of forging an alliance with ‘nationalist forces’.

On Tuesday, CPN-Maoist Chairman Mohan Baidya said that his party could work together with the former king to “safeguard nationalism.”

“Some of our friends (Baidya), who want to disrupt the elections, think that Gyanendra is a nationalist force. If the elections are not held, the former king will make hay while the sun shines. So our revolutionary friends should not resort to a suicidal move by disrupting the polls,” Bhattarai said, claiming that Gyanendra is pleading with ‘various power centres’ for the revival of his regime.

Without elaborating on the ‘power centres’, Bhattarai said he has information about Gyanendra’s pleas. “If I were in power, I would send him (Gyanendra) to jail for his anti-election activities,” Bhattarai said.

The former prime minister also said royalist forces are trying to woo Nepali Congress and CPN-UML leaders to launch ‘a counter revolution’ and revive the 1990 constitution. “The republican forces are being projected as compradors of foreign forces and Gyanendra as a nationalist force, which is a serious conspiracy to sabotage republic and secularism.”

Bhattarai, who came down heavily on the former king and the CPN-Maoist during his one hour-long interaction, tried to say that his party has not abandoned the agenda of nationalism. “In the past, we dug a tunnel against foreign interference. If needed, we are again ready for a trench war to protect nationalism,” he said, adding that his party wants to make a cordial relation with neighbouring countries.

As the party’s extended plenum decided to go for a single leadership system under party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Bhattarai, who resigned as the party’s vice-chairman, said the UCPN (M) has not abandoned the collective leadership system. “It is not a single leadership system indeed. We will continue to practice the collective leadership system.”

Aid for flood victims : Himani Trust hits poll code hurdle

The Election Commission (EC) has asked the Himani Trust, a philanthropic organisation run by the former royals, to go through the government while distributing relief aid to flood victims in the Far-west.

Former king Gyanendra Shah, his wife Komal Shah and daughter-in-law Himani reached Dhangadi with the relief package on Tuesday. The EC said it has not barred the former royals from distributing the relief. “They can contribute the relief package, but through the government mechanism (District Disaster Relief Committee) in the district,” said Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety.

The election code of conduct that came into effect on Tuesday bars political parties, individuals and organisations from distributing relief/aid in any form until the code is in place. The Trust, however, said the plan to distribute the relief will go ahead. It argued that the plan had been mooted before the implementation of the election code. “The EC cannot obstruct the distribution, which was planned before the election code came into effect,” Bijaya Laxmi Rana, Secretary of the Trust, told a press meet in Dhangadi. Former Crown Princess Himani heads the Trust, while Gyanendra is the patron.

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