KATHMANDU, MARCH 4

CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli has accused Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of making the country a playground by deciding to open a university in Mustang.

Addressing a programme at party headquarters here today, Oli said allowing a university in Mustang was an appeasement of foreigners, undermining Nepal's interests and treachery against the friendly nation China. He said that by deciding to open a university in Mustang, the government was trying to revive Khampa rebellion on a large scale. Oli said opening a university in Mustang was also against Nepal's independence.

He said foreigners were eyeing Nepal's uranium deposit in Mustang district and therefore, allowing the opening of a university in Mustang was a dangerous thing. We will have to fight against things that are against our national interest, he added.

Oli said that the Dahal government was trying to appease a foreign government by allowing foreign vegetables into Nepal without checking them for use of pesticide. ' I know we do not have adequate system to check foreign vegetables, but whatever system we have, we should use them to check the vegetables.

Oli also said the current eight-party alliance did not have any vision or clear plan to resolve the country's problems.

Oli said he had offered the post of president to CPN (Unified Socialist) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal, but he went to the Nepali Congress to seek their approval. When the NC leaders told him to make his stance clear on the presidential elections, Nepal surrendered to them by saying that the alliance's common candidate would be Ramchandra Paudel.

Meanwhile, Nepal said at a programme organised by his party's sister wing that he declined the offer of president because he did not want to betray a friendly force, and also to help the cause of political stability.

He also said his party would not mix with any communist party but would try to unite all the communist parties of the country. Nepal said he would make efforts to strengthen the eight-party alliance and to unite communist forces. He added that he also asked the CPN-UML to revive the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) by brining the CPN-UML, CPN (US) and CPN-Maoist Centre together.

Nepal said he was making efforts to unite socialist forces and the CPN-MC, and Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal had responded positively. 'If the three forces come together, it will have a good impact on the House of Representatives and the country,' he added. 'If we have to unite all communist forces, the first thing is to become stronger,' Nepal added.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.