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General Mass Meeting: Initiation of CA election Campaign
By KTM Metro Reporter in Kathmandu
On Monday, January 14, 2008, the seven-party alliance (SPA) held a public mass meeting at the Shahid Manch in Kathmandu kicking off an election campaign for holding an election for a Constituent Assembly (CA) on April 10, 2008. The Nepali Congress (NC) managed this public meeting following the agreement of the leaders of the SPA on managing such meetings in different parts of Nepal as an election campaign by all seven parties in turn.
The first speaker in the mass meeting, Chairman of the CPN-Maoist, Prachanda told the audience that his party is committed to hold an election for a CA, and hold it at any cost. He, however, warned of the palace and some foreign elements have been plotting to derail the election for a CA. He also hit out at Chief of Army Staff General Rukmangad Katuwal for his comment on not integrating the politically indoctrinated fighters into the Nepali Army, and keeping the Nepali Army non-politicized. Referring to the politicization of the Nepali Army, Prachanda questioned whether the public expression of Katuwal against the integration of the Maoist combatants is not the political.
The last speaker, former Prime Minister and Senior NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba said that Nepal has become a democratic republic as his party NC has already made decision on it. He said that the NC is committed to hold the election for a CA. However, his party President and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala did not attend the meeting on the pretext of illness. It has been a standard practice of Prime Minister Koirala to be sick whenever he did not want to meet somebody or attend some meetings. This time it is not known whether he is really sick or just pretense.
General Secretary of CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal as usual made his standard speech telling the audience that nobody should derail the election for a CA on any pretext, and his party is committed to holding the CA election on April 10, 2008. He also said that while traveling in the Terai areas recently he found the Terai people are eagerly waiting for the CA election, and the environment in Terai is conducive to the election.
Other leaders such as Amik Sherchan of People’s Front Nepal, CP Mainali of the CPN-ML, Prem Suwal of Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, Shyam Sundar Gupta of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandevi) spoke about the need for the CA election and their commitment to hold it. However, Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandevi) sacked Gupta even from the party membership a day before the public meeting.
Shouting slogans against Sujata Koirala, the audience of the mass meeting at Shahid Manch has expressed its opposition to her opinion about the need for giving a space to the king in the CA election given to the reporters in her hometown Biratnagar a few days ago.
After the completion of meeting at about 3:30 P.M. while the people were returning from the mass meeting, some persons traveling on a taxi threw a bomb at a running minibus at the Bhotahity Square a few hundred meters north of the Shahid Manch injuring eight people traveling on the minibus. After treatment six people returned home while two people are still undergoing treatment at the hospital. The bomb explosion damaged both the minibus and the taxi according to the Home Ministry.
