Kathmandu, November 13:

Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has appealed to the youths to rise against dictatorship.

“Attempts are on to lead the country towards one-party rule. It’s time youths and students, who fought against a dictator king, should fought against the new challenge,” Deuba said at a function organised by the Nepal Students’ Union today to mark the 13th day of the demise of Nepal Students’ Union vice-president Tanka Bikram Nembang. He called on the youths and students to foil “attempts to establish dictatorship.”

Vice-president of the Nepali Congress Gopal Man Shrestha said unhealthy competition within the party had led the Nepali Congress to a pathetic state.

He noted that the party had launched a campaign one-and-a-half-months ago to strengthen itself.

“We took the CPN-Maoist to the government, but now they are treating us like an enemy,” said the NC vice-president.

Shrestha urged the youths and the students to prevent the establishment of an authoritarian rule.

Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Sharan Mahat also claimed that dictatorship was raising its head. “The nation may face the dearth of daring youths to fight it.”

Tanka Bikram’s father Mani Prasad Nembang said his son had never rode on a tractor before.

“I want to know why he got on the tractor on that particular day,” he said, demanding a probe into the incident.