Dhankuta, December 2:

Nepali Congress central committee member Dr Shekhar Koirala today advised the CPN-Maoist and the CPN-UML to go for change of their respective leadership. Of late, the two parties have been pressing for a change of guard in the government.

Speaking at a press meet organised here by the Press Union Nepal, Dr Koirala scoffed at the two parties saying nothing would come of their demand to press for a change of guard in the government. Asking Maoist chairman Prachanda not to behave irresponsibly, Dr Koirala said the political parties should run the country by consensus for at least 15 years.

Pointing out that discord prevailed among Nepali Congress ministers themselves over the allocation of ministries, he said that the other parties were even more severely afflicted by internal wrangling. He added that the parties had not been able to forge consensus on major issues. Expressing regret that vested interests tried to associate him with the recent episode in Nobel Medical College, he denied any involvement in it.

Dr Koirala also met the heads of the local administration including chief district officer Tara Nath Gautam and DSP at the District Police Office, Dhankuta, Nar Bahadur KC and sought briefing from them on the security situation there.