WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 58 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 38.6 C 6.0 C Saturday, April 17, 2021 | 04-01-2078 Nepalgunj Jumla Janata Samajbadi, amid differences within party, close to a deal with Oli Leaders say the government has given them word to free their lawmaker and to withdraw cases against their cadres in return for support to Oli on early polls and the MCC. ANIL GIRI been making attempts to declare snap KATHMANDU, APRIL 16 polls. For this, he either has to dis- solve the House once again unconsti- The government and the Janata tutionally or he has to create a situa- Samajbadi Party are inching closer to tion where the constitutional provi- an agreement and likely to reach a sions will allow him to do so. deal by next week on the party extend- Insiders say Oli appears ready to ing support to Prime Minister KP address the Janata Samajbadi Sharma Oli, leaders from both sides Party’s demands in return for its said on Friday. support to get the Millennium CPN-UML chief and Prime Minister Challenge Corporation Nepal KP Sharma Oli for the last few weeks Compact, a $500 million US grant, has been trying to rope in the Janata endorsed through Parliament and Samajbadi Party. declare early elections. The Janata Samajbadi, however, Even though Thakur, along with had put forward a list of its Rajendra Mahato, has been lobbying demands, including freeing its law- for joining hands with Oli, a section maker Resham Chaudhary from jail, in the party—led by Baburam withdrawing cases against its leaders Bhattarai and Upendra Yadav—is POST PHOTO: ANGAD DHAKAL and cadres, making public the opposed to the idea. A woman is aided as she crosses a flooded street at Mangalbazaar, Lalitpur after thundershowers on Friday afternoon. Lal Commission report and a “Though we have not been consult- commitment to amending the ed for the entire negotiations that constitution. have been going on for quite a while, it According to leaders, Oli and seems that some of our leaders are Janata Samajbadi chair toeing Oli’s position, which is unfortu- Mahantha Thakur on Thursday nate,” Upendra Yadav, the other chair Shahi survives vote of confidence in evening reached an understand- of the Janata Samajbadi Party, said. ing to address the demands for- “From what we are hearing about the warded by the Janata Samajbadi. closed-door negotiations in Baluwatar, Even though his December 20 it looks like some of our party leaders Karnali as four UML members defy whip decision to dissolve the House are ready to back Oli’s line of early was overturned by the Supreme polls. This is not acceptable to us.” The decision to cross the floor is aimed at sending across a message to Oli, says Court on February 23, Oli has >> Continued on page 2 a leader who decided to vote to save the Maoist Centre provincial government. TIKA R PRADHAN Besides Jwala, Kurmaraj Shahi, KATHMANDU, APRIL 16 Nanda Singh Budha and Ammar Bahadur Thapa were the other UML Karnali Chief Minister Mahendra leaders to defy the party’s whip issued Bahadur Shahi, who was set to become by the Parliamentary Party leader Yam the first casualty of the feud between Lal Kandel. All are from the Madhav the CPN-UML and the Communist Kumar Nepal faction in the UML. Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), man- According to Jwala, five Provincial aged to secure a vote of confidence, Assembly members from the Nepal thanks to four UML Provincial faction, however, followed the party Assembly members who decided to whip, as just four people were needed cross the floor on Friday. to save the Shahi government and Shahi, a Maoist Centre leader, was send a message across to the party elected chief minister in February leadership. 2018 as part of a power-sharing “It was time we revolted against the deal between the UML and the Maoist unilateral and arbitrary decisions by Centre which had merged to form our party leadership,” Jwala told the the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in POST FILE PHOTO Post over the phone. “We also wanted May 2018. Mahendra Bahadur Shahi to show that we are opposed to action However, after the March 7 decision taken against some of the leaders.” of the Supreme Court to scrap the Shahi needed 20 votes to survive as After the UML was revived, Nepal, Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and one provincial member had been sus- who had formed an alliance with revive the UML and the Maoist Centre, pended. Pushpa Kamal Dahal against Prime the UML had withdrawn the support it As the Nepali Congress and the Minister KP Sharma Oli, was forced to had lent to Shahi on March 17. As a Maoist Centre stood in favour of return to the party. result, he was forced to seek a vote of Shahi, the four UML members made On March 29, Oli suspended Nepal confidence. him earn 22 votes. and Bhim Rawal as party members for In the 40-member Karnali Provincial “We decided to cross the floor to six months. Thereafter, on April 1, Oli Assembly, the UML has 20 seats, give a message to our party’s leaders,” suspended Ghanashyam Bhusal and including that of the Speaker, the said Prakash Jwala, a UML Provincial Surendra Pandey for six months. Oli Maoist Centre 12 seats, the Nepali Assembly member close to Madhav alleged that the four leaders were Congress 6 and the Rastriya Nepal. “We are ready to face any working against party unity. Prajatantra Party has 1. action from our Parliamentary Party.” >> Continued on page 2 To open, or not to open Contradicting messages from government about running schools amid the coronavirus scare confuse guardians. spread of the pandemic. The Health Ministry’s directive came as the number of Covid-19 cases has seen a steady increase in the last two weeks with 836 new cases report- ed during the last 24 hours on Friday. The number of new cases reported on Thursday stood at 490, according to the ministry. The differing recommendations have left guardians confused and they say they cannot trust the govern- ment to keep their children safe from the virus. “I neither believe in the school nor do I have trust in the government to contain the virus,” said Suman Parajuli, 43, from Banasthali, POST FILE PHOTO Kathmandu, father of a 13-year-old girl. Wary of sending children to school, some parents demand alternative modes of learning. The Ministry of Education had held consultations with the represent- BINOD GHIMIRE closure of schools where students, atives of the private and public schools KATHMANDU, APRIL 16 teachers or other staff test positive and associations of guardians and for the coronavirus, in coordination teachers earlier this week following On Thursday, the Ministry of Health with the District Covid-19 Crisis recommendations of the Health and Population asked guardians not to Management Centre. Ministry on Saturday to shut down send their children to school. “The contradicting positions of the schools in densely populated areas for On Friday, the Ministry of education and health ministries show three weeks. Education directed schools to operate a serious lack of coordination,” said But school operators resisted, by ensuring safety protocols. Suprabhat Bhandari, chair of the according to a participant at the It also gave local governments the Nepal Guardian Federation, on the meeting. authority to take a decision on the different views on schools to check the >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Authorities unprepared to tackle Janata Samajbadi, amid ... >> Continued from page 1 “This provision won’t apply to the indi- According to Yadav, he will raise the viduals whose cases are pending in the issue in the party. court,” Budha told the Post. “This new Thakur, according to a UML leader, has provision applies to the individuals who coronavirus spike in Lumbini assured Oli that he will take the confidence have already been convicted by the court of party leaders, including Yadav and and are doing time in prison. We are col- Bhattarai, about the agreement that the lecting data of those people who fall under The provincial authorities are yet to step up preventive measures to curb further spread of the virus, party is going to reach with Oli. this category.” If Oli manages to secure the support of One of the Janata Samajbadi Party’s say health officials in Lumbini, where 238 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. the Janata Samajbadi, even if it splits and pre-conditions before Oli to extending its just half its 32 lawmakers stand by him, Oli support is release of Resham Chaudhary cal by the day. If the number of will be in a comfortable position. who is currently doing time in Dillibazaar patients keeps on increasing, the The Nepali Congress with 61 seats and Prison after he was convicted by Kailali hospital will soon run out of beds,” the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist District Court in March 2019 for he said. Centre) with 49 seats cannot form a coali- masterminding the Tikapur violence in Bheri Hospital is a 72-bed facility tion government unless they manage to August 2015. with seven ventilators, which doc- extract the support of all 32 members of Chaudhary, who won from the Kailali-1 tors at the hospital say are not suffi- the Janata Samajbadi Party. constituency in the 2017 elections on the cient in light of the current case- With 121 seats of his UML, which is also Rastriya Janata Party Nepal ticket, was load.