UML rules out government change

KATHMANDU: The ruling CPN-UML has categorically rejected any possibility of an immediate change in government.

A meeting of the party’s Secretariat held on Monday dismissed CPN (Maoist Center) Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s statement that a new government will be formed under the leadership of the Nepali Congress (NC) soon.

UML Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali said after the meeting that the Secretariat meeting concluded that Dahal’s statement merely reflected his frustration and grievances from being outside the power structure. “There exists neither the possibility nor justification for a government change at this time,” Gyawali said. “Raising the topic of forming a new government demonstrates nothing but an obsession with power.”

Speaking to reporters in Chitwan on Sunday, Dahal had said that recent events indicate that the country is moving toward a new government.

Dahal has repeatedly said that a new government will be formed soon under the leadership of the NC since his government fell in July last year.

UML has also criticized former King Gyanendra Shah’s recent statement, which attempted to portray criminal incidents as some form of public awakening, as deeply concerning. The meeting decided to caution the former monarch against making such inflammatory statements, Gyawali added. “The party concluded that Shah must be held accountable for the March 28 incident in Tinkune of Kathmandu,” Gyawali said.

Meanwhile, UML has decided to honor veteran contributors to Nepal’s communist movement – Lal Bahadur Bishwakarma (Kanchanpur), the late Ratna Sharma Neupane (Jajarkot), Bachaspati Devkota (Gorkha), Shanta Manavi (Kathmandu), Shobha Ram Basnet (Dang), and Haricharan Shivakoti (Jhapa) – on April 22, on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the formation of the communist party.