Dhangadhi, April 1:

Maoist chairman Prachanda and senior leader of the Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba held telephone conversation today over the tensions between Nepali Congress and other parties in Dadeldhura district.

The leaders are learnt to have agreed not to flare up the incident. “Deuba and Prachanda have reached an agreement not to fuel up the tensions. They had a telephonic conservation on Tuesday evening. Prachanda has taken the incident very seriously,” said Maoists’ Seti-Mahakali in-charge Lekhraj Bhatta ‘Rakesh’.

He added that the two leaders talked about clashes between Maoist cadres and other party cadres in different parts of the far-western region. He said the leaders were of the view that increasing rivalry between the parties will only benefit the anti-republican and anti-poll elements.

In the Dadeldhura incident on Monday, 23 activists of the Nepali Congress were injured after clashes between the NC cadres and the CPN-UML and Maoists cadres. The clashes occurred after the UML and Maoists attacked NC cadres and its offices in the district headquarters Amarghadi, accusing the latter of torching their party flags at Bagbazaar. The situation in Amargadhi remained tense throughout the day on Monday until before the district administration imposed indefinite curfew. The curfew continued on Tuesday as well.

Meanwhile, organising a press conference today, Maoists’ Seti-Mahakali in-charge Lekhraj Bhatta ‘Rakesh’ blamed the local administration and police for the Dadeldhura incident. He said that the security personnel attacked the Maoists by taking side of the Nepali Congress.