Gorkha, February 22:

Minister for Physical Planning and Works, Gopal Man Shrestha, said today that no agreement has been made on retaining weapons for the security of the Maoist leadership.

Inaugurating the 14th Gorkha district conference of the Nepal Students’ Union (NSU), Shrestha said, “The government is competent enough to ensure security of Maoist leaders and their residences. No agreement has been made to let the retain weapons.”

“The Maoists don’t have the right to move around with weapons. If they go to villages with weapons and leaders of other parties only with visiting cards during the elections to the constituent assembly (CA), the election cannot be fair or free,” Shrestha said.

Some days earlier, policemen deployed for security of the Parliament had stopped guards of two Members of the Legislatiure Parliament from entering the Parliament building with the weapons they were carrying.

Pointing to the message by the king on the occasion of Democracy Day, Shrestha said the king had created problems for himself. “Why did the king have to get active even after he was attacked on Shivaratri,” Shrestha said.

Shrestha said both the Congress parties will be unified in a respectable manner before the CA polls.