Himalayan News Service

Biratnagar, January 23:

Hom Nath Dahal, minister for Agriculture and Cooperative today said the PM was conducting discussions and holding consultations with security bodies and the Election Commission to initiate the election procedure within this year.

Speaking at the inauguration of a two-day seminar on agriculture and technology organised by Nepal Peasants Support Centre in Biratnagar, Dahal said the government had no alternative left but to hold the election. He asked all the farmers to be prepared for it. “The government was eager to hold election from day one,” he said, claiming that the election was also a compulsion as it had been already mentioned in the gazette.

He claimed that the Maoists had refused calls for talks because they were deafened by extremism. “The country’s sovereignty would be threatened if the Maoists keep clinging on to the current strategy”.