KAVRE: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal today questioned Unified CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda’s moral right to be the party chief since he had failed to rein in the Moaists cadres.

Inaugurating the fifth district convention of the CPN-UML in Kavre's Panchkhal, Nepal said the former rebels were increasing their anarchic activities. He also challenged Prachanda to take action against the unruly cadres.

Nepal also hinted

that the Maoists were behind scribe Tika Bista's assault. "Who else could attack her for an article on Yadu and Tirtha Gautam?'' he asked. He also urged Prachanda to punish cadres involved in criminal activities.

He said the government would punish the assailants of Bista. "The Maoist leaders do not admit the mistakes committed by their cadres

even when they are frequently attacking UML cadres," the premier said, claiming that the Maoists were not committed to democracy, evidently expressed through their anarchic activities. "They want to impose a totalitarian rule in the country by intimidating rival parties,'' he added.

The PM said the Maoists would not realise their

target of maintaining

40 percent forest land

if they indulged in

seizing forest land in the name of squatters. He said the government would solve the problems of squatters after identifying the genuine ones.

Stating that though the constitution drafting process was delayed

due to the lack of confidence and trust among political parties, the Maoist army would be managed and there

would be no time lag in the statue drafting. Nepal said the Chinese government had been urged to develop Panchkhal as an industrial estate and to construct Khasa-Kathmandu railway.