Janakpur, December 13, 2007

The Maoists are to dissolve their sister organisations formed on ethnic and regional basis soon.

Maoist chairman Prachanda, speaking to journalists this morning here, said, “Since the duration of ethnic and regional fronts were for a limited period, we will dissolve such fronts soon.” There will be involvement of Madhesis in the central leadership of the party as many Madhesi youth leaders are coming up in the party, he said. “The formation of a regional party by the deserters of different parties including the NC will have no effect on his party,” he said, adding, “The deserters were active to form a regional party for quite some time and they deserted their respective parties when the time was favorable to them.”

The country will face a serious crisis if the political deadlock is not ended in two days, he said. Saying that the Maoists are adopting flexibility, he warned of a peaceful agitation from the streets and parliament if the SPA did not resolve the problem.

Bara: Prachanda said here today that the portfolios of finance, defence and home should not be allocated to any single party after the cabinet reshuffle. He told media persons at Simara airport on his way to the capital from Janakpur that his party would return to the government if it is given deputy premiership in the government.

He admitted that there were differences within his party, but not to that degree as reported in the media.

He also said his party will soon provide financial relief to the slain journalist of Bara Birendra Shah.

PM serious about Tarai issues: Madhesi MPs

Kathmandu, December 13, 2007

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and the Nepali Congress leadership spent good deal of time today at PM’s residence at Baluwatar to listen to the concerns of the Madhesi Members of Parliament.

“They listened to the Madhesi lawmakers from some 20 Tarai districts for eight hours or so,” MP Nagendra Kumar Raya told this daily. “We told the party leadership to become serious now. The party should take immediate steps to avoid the number of resignations from further increasing,” Raya said.

The Prime Minister has assured of short and long-term packages for the Tarai to address the tarai issues and he asked the party acting president Sushil Koirala to come up with the short-term package. “We found the PM very positive on addressing the Tarai issues,” Raya added. The NC leadership and the PM in particular, is worried after Mahantha Thakur’s resignation from the party and the parliament on Monday.

The Prime Minister is worried that he might get another piece of bad news if the Madhesi issues remained unaddressed, the participating MPs said. The lawmakers asked the government to stop treating the Madhesis as second class citizens. They demanded an end to all forms of discrimination against the Madhesi people.