Prachanda calls for Defence Minister to resign,throws weight behind Shah

Prachanda has created a major crisis for his party comrade and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai by demanding the resignation of the Defence Minister from the Cabinet.

Bhandari belongs to the United Democratic Madhes Front (UDMF),which has almost the same share as the Maoists in the coalition government headed by Bhattarai.

“Bhandari must be ousted from the government for his recent statement that favoured secessionism,” Prachanda told media representatives at his residence on Thursday.

Two weeks ago,Bhandari had said that “22 districts along the plains of Nepal bordering India may disintegrate if they were not given their due in national politics,and no law of the land would stop it”.

Bhattarai had accepted the explanation offered by Bhandari two days later,and appealed to all to not rake up the issue.

The response of the Madhes Front was still awaited,but a senior leader requesting anonymity said the Front will review its partnership with the Maoists in the government if pushed too far.

What signalled the rift in the 6-week-long power partnership between the two sides was Prachanda’s open defence of Maoist Minister Prabhu Shah,who was shielded by the government from being tried in a murder case.

“It was a part of a political conspiracy to frame him,and I will defend him to the hilt,” Prachanda said on Thursday.

Shah was wanted by the Parsa district police for the murder of Hindu Yuva Sangh leader Kashi Tiwari in June,but government lawyers refused to chargesheet him on Wednesday.

The case in fact took a bizarre turn on Wednesday as Babita Tiwari,the widow of the Pro-Hindutva leader,displayed to the media a bundle of Rs 8,00,000 which she claimed was given to her by a joint secretary who serves in Shah’s department.

She said she had been given instructions to tell the media that she had no information about her husband’s killers.

“I was asked to meet the Prime Minister,and make the statement before the media waiting outside,” she said at a press conference held later.