Maoist activist and economist Chandra Kanta Poudyal has been named as Nepal's new ambassador to India, a post which has been lying vacant since the formation of the new government in the country.
60-year-old Khanal, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), secured 368 of the 557 votes cast in the 601-member Parliament, the speaker announced.
Nepalese opposition leader Girija Prasad Koirala has asked Prime Minister Prachanda to run the government with consensus of all the stakeholders, and said his talks with the Indian leaders revolved around this and dismissed reports that he sought New Delhi's help to oust the Maoists-led ministry.
The Nepal Maoists on Tuesday began a process for fresh recruitment to its guerrilla force to counter the move of the national army to fill vacancies, a decision that threatens to derail the fragile peace process in the Himalayan nation.
Nepal Maoist chief Prachanda sought to allay India's concerns that his party was strongly anti-Indian, but underlined that the two countries need to redefine the 'unequal' accords of the past given the dramatic changes of the past few years. On the second say of her three-day visit, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met the Maoist chairman who also told her that his party was committed to honour the agreements signed in line with the peace process in Nepal.
The man lived a life so grand, touched and entertained millions. He defined my early teenage years and in some ways who I am today. For that I will always be grateful to him, says Aseem Chhabra.
Electioneering for the third and the final phase of polling in Assam to be held on April 24 in six constituencies - Gauhati, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Mangaldoi and Nowgong -- came to an end on Tuesday afternoon with the election department expecting a high turn out on the basis of overwhelming response of voters in the last two phases of polling in the state.
Former Nepalese Crown Prince, who was involved in a brawl at an upmarket tourist resort, was arrested by police on Tuesday for firing his gun in the air following an argument with the family members of Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Sujata Koirala.
Maoists and cadres of the Young Communist League stormed into the temple at 4 pm on Thursday escorting the new priest to replace Indian pundits, who have led prayers at the historic shrine for the past 300 hundred years, and this move triggered immediate protests from Hindu bodies and people residing in the vicinity of the temple. The new priest has not yet started the actual worshipping job as he is not acquainted with the tradition and rules of the shrine, locals said.
Nepal today dismissed as "baseless" a report which claimed Ajmal, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks, was nabbed in the Himalayan nation two years ago and handed over to India.
Amidst Pakistan's attempt to dispute the nationality of the lone surviving gunman arrested for the Mumbai terror attacks, a Pakistani lawyer has claimed Ajmal Amir Iman was a Pakistani citizen arrested two years ago in Kathmandu by "Indian agencies" with the help of Nepal.
Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) leader K P Sharma Oli has been made deputy premier and foreign minister.
King Gyanendra Monday held talks with former prime ministers of Nepal.
Favouring a "revolutionary change" in relations with India, Nepalese Prime Minister Prachanda on Tuesday said a "new era has dawned" that should help further strengthen the bilateral ties. He suggested that New Delhi should help in the development of Nepal, which is placed in between two rising economies -- India and China.
53-year-old Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda was administered the oath of office by President Ram Baran Yadav during a function at the Rastrapati Bhawan in Kathmandu.
The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) at a meeting held Monday night agreed in principle to form a coalition government under the leadership of former rebels, NC spokesman Arjun Narsingh Khatri Chhetri said.
Amid the political limbo over government formation, Indian-origin Madhesi leader Ram Baran Yadav was sworn-in as the first President of the nascent republic of Nepal on Wednesday, three days after his victory in the historic poll for the coveted post.
Koirala, top leader of the seven-party coalition fighting against the King's direct rule, will have his heart check-up at the Apollo Hospital in New Delhi.
Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Thursday resigned from his post, ending a two-month long deadlock to pave the way for the country's first ever Maoist-led government. Koirala, 83, announced his resignation while addressing the Constituent Assembly, which was elected in April to rewrite the constitution and govern the Himalayan nation, Nepali Congress Assembly member Tirtha Ram Dangol said.
The Seven-Party Alliance in Nepal has achieved a major breakthrough in the ongoing political logjam by agreeing to elect prime minister, president and vice-president through a simple majority of the Constituent Assembly, but differences continue to persist over the composition of the National Security Council.
The Seven Party Alliance, which has been at the centrestage of the democratic movement in Nepal and was instrumental in the transition of the nation from a monarchy to a republic, is virtually defunct. The Himalayan nation is witnessing a new round of political alignments and re-alignments with the CPN-UML joining hands with the CPN-Maoists, leaving behind the Nepali Congress.The UML and Maoists have reached an agreement to seek consensus with other parties on amendments.
Maoist ministers in the interim multi-party government in Nepal on Thursday resigned en masse in an apparent bid to pressurise Prime Minister G P Koirala to quit and allow formation of a new administration led by the former rebels.
In a sudden U-turn that could break the lingering political deadlock in Nepal, Maoists on Thursday decided to give up their claim on the post of president, paving the way for formation of a new government. Following its Central Secretariat meeting in Kathmandu, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist party also announced that it has withheld its decision to quit the interim multi-party government by Thursday.
Nepal's major parties on Wednesday failed to break an impasse over the formation of a new government as efforts to strike a deal on sharing of power proved futile. During crucial talks in Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's residence here, the Maoists rejected a proposal from Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML to amend the interim constitution to remove a provision requiring two-thirds majority for forming or unseating the government.
"The Lampih area is extremely mineral rich," Assam government Spokesman and Health Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said, as he led a huge convoy through the dense forest and muddy slippery jungle track over a mountain to assert Assam's right over the disputed land and announce a slew of packages for 3,200 villagers who have to travel for six hours on horseback to reach the nearest road fit for motor vehicles.
With declaration of Nepal as a republic and abolishing the monarchy by the first meeting of Constituent Assembly on Wednesday, a new dawn has begun for the country to be led by the 53-year-old former rebel, who is now in his strongest position to rebuild the impoverished Himalayan country.
Nepal's beleaguered King was on Wednesday given 15-day time to vacate the royal palace as thousands of people poured into the streets and sprinkled vermillion on each other to celebrate the country's transition to a republic.
A day before the declaration of abolition of monarchy, the Maoists in Nepal agreed to the provision of a ceremonial president with executive powers to prime minister. Initially, the Maoists wanted a presidential system and a ceremonial prime minister. However, other major political parties--Nepali Congress and UML-- wanted the prime minister with executive powers and a ceremonial president.
Ending a political deadlock, Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Saturday invited the Maoists to form a government, more than a month after they emerged as the biggest party in the Constituent Assembly polls.
Prashant Rasaily was the runner-up in Gateway To Hollywood, a reality television show which gave a chance to budding filmmakers to go to Hollywood. Even though Prashant did not win, he bagged a prestigious project -- he will assist Anurag Basu in the Hrithik Roshan-starrer, Kites.
Aseem Chhabra's recommendations for the Mumbai film festival.
A division bench comprising Justices Min Bahadur Rayamajhi and Kalyan Shrestha rejected the plea by French lawyer Isabelle Coutant Peyre to defend Sobhraj, 64, during a hearing on Tuesday, saying that the court does not have such precedence, officials said. Sobhraj, a half-Vietnamese and half-Indian, is a French national.
Despite the CBI informing the Supreme Court that Lok Sabha MP Mani Kumar Subba was a citizen of Nepal, and not India, Subba has remained defiant. Subba, one of the Congress' biggest fund-raisers, has maintained that he is Indian, and said he would prove it before the apex court. The Congress, meanwhile, is adopting a wait-and-watch approach towards Subba, even as many party leaders demand his resignation.
Subba had given a birth certificate claiming that he was born in 1958, contrary to the records available with the Assam Regional Passport office which showed his year of birth as 1961. According to his earlier affidavit submitted in the 1998 Lok Sabha, his year of birth was 1951. Subba's records in the 12th Lok Sabha shows his place of birth as Tezpur while that of the current Lok Sabha shows his birth place as Dabgram in Darjeeling.
The Communist Party of Nepal Maoist, which emerged victorious in the recent Constituent Assembly polls, decided on Wednesday that the next government should be under its leadership and that party chairman Prachanda' would head the government. The meeting reaffirmed the abolition of monarchy and implementation of republic in the country and concluded to form a coalition government and continue consensus with other parties.
Heading towards a landslide victory in the historic Nepal polls and poised to form the next government, the Maoists have crossed the 100-mark by winning 110 seats out of the 200 results declared (according to reports that last came in). Poll analysts say it will be difficult for the Maoists to get clear cut majority in the 601-seat assembly in which 575 are elected and 26 are nominated by the new Councils of Ministers.
The elections, which are set to usher in democracy ending the 40-year monarchy, saw the first seat going to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress party, whose candidate Prkash Man Singh won one of the constituencies in Kathmandu. Maoist chairman Prachanda, Maoist war time strategist Ram Bahadur Thpa (Badal), its spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara and two female Maoist leaders Pampha Bhushal and Hisila Yami are leading in their respective constituencies.
The Nepal government and political parties should ensure that the long-awaited constituent assembly elections on April 10 are free of violence, candidate intimidation, and efforts to suppress voter turnout, according to the Human Rights Watch. The newly elected lawmakers will draft a brand new constitution and are expected to ratify a pledge by the main political parties to turn Nepal into a federal republic.The Nepali election campaign has been plagued by violence.
In an interactive programme at Rajbiraj, an eastern Nepal town, Prachanda claimed that his party Communist Party of Nepal - Maoist would get 150 seats out of a total of 300 seats in the direct election, and that he will become the first president of the Himalayan nation after the polls. He also sounded a note of apprehension over elections taking place on the scheduled date. "I am not confident that the CA elections will be held on the stipulated date," he said.
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