NEPAL: NEPAL'S RULING PARTY HOLDS EMERGENCY MEETING TO FIND SUCCESSOR TO PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA

Record ID: 584770

  • Title: NEPAL: NEPAL'S RULING PARTY HOLDS EMERGENCY MEETING TO FIND SUCCESSOR TO PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA
  • Date: 19th July 2001
  • Summary: (W5) KATHMANDU, NEPAL (JULY 19, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV CAR WITH OUTGOING NEPALESE PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA ENTERING HIS RESIDENCE 0.07 2. SLV CARS WITH LAWMAKERS ENTERING KORIALA'S RESIDENCE (2 SHOTS) 0.20 3. MCU (Nepali) ARJUN NARSINGH, NEPALI CONGRESS PARTY LAWMAKER, SAYING (A STATEMENT OF KIRALA): "Crime and terror is spreading. I (Girija Prasad Koirala) have been trying to bring a total unity amongst political parties, political society and civil society. In the same process I submitted a fourteen point programme as well (in parliament). I will be constantly in the process of creating a consensus apart from the role of premiership to make the parliamentary system strong." 0.54 4. MCU/SV MEDIA/CARS WITH LAWMAKERS COMING OUT OF PRIME MINISTER'S RESIDENCE (3 SHOTS) 1.11 5. SLV PEOPLE BUYING NEWSPAPERS 1.16 6. SV SV PEOPLE READING NEWSPAPERS (2 SHOTS) 1.25 7. MCU (Nepali) A NEPALI CITIZEN, SAYING "At this time when there are protests both in parliament and the streets, this step of resignation seems to be appropriate. If the next one also does not fare well, another alternative should be sought." . 1.55 (W5) KATHMANDU, NEPAL (RECENT) (REUTERS) 8. SLV NEPALI PARLIAMENT 1.58 9. SV LAWMAKERS SITTING 2.04 10. SV OF KOIRALA SITTING 2.11 11. SV OF LAWMAKERS 2.17 12. MCU KOIRALA SPEAKING 2.25 13. SV LAWMAKERS LISTENING 2.29 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
  • Country: Nepal
  • Reuters ID: LVACLPWN57C6YNIZBC0IRO0SBDHI
  • Story Text: Nepal's centrist ruling party has held an emergency
    meeting to find a successor to Prime Minister Girija Prasad
    Koirala, who resigned over growing Maoist rebel violence.



    Nepal's ruling party will choose a replacement this
    weekend for Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala who quit
    following demands for his departure by Maoist rebels holding
    70 policemen hostage, party officials said.

    Koirala's resignation on Thursday (July 19) plunged the
    tourist-dependent Himalayan nation, destination of thousands
    of backpackers and mountain climbers each year, into fresh
    chaos.

    Lawmaker Arjun Narsingh of the Nepali Congress said
    Koirala's resignation is the culmination of party's internal
    dynamics.

    "Crime and terror is spreading. I (Girija Prasad Koirala)
    have been trying to bring a total unity amongst political
    parties, political society and civil society. In the same
    process I submitted a 14 point programme as well (in
    parliament). I will be constantly in the process of creating a
    consensus apart from the role of premiership to make the
    parliamentary system strong," Arjun Narsingh read out a
    statement of Koirala.

    The picturesque, poverty-stricken country sandwiched
    between India and China is still reeling from the massacre of
    most of its royal family last month and is struggling to crush
    the Maoist revolt.

    Party official Basanta Gautam said deputies of the
    centrist Nepali Congress Party would try to choose the new
    prime minister on Sunday (July 22), through consensus adding
    that if that failed, the decision would be by ballot. Gautam
    did not say if the vote would be secret.

    The Maoists had said Koirala, 78, must quit before they
    would start talks to free the policemen seized eight days ago
    in a raid in a remote area of west Nepal. It was the latest in
    a slew of hit-and-run rebel attacks in past weeks on poorly
    armed police stations in which dozens of policemen have been
    killed.

    Government officials were not immediately available to
    comment on newspaper reports on Friday that the rebels had
    moved the policemen to new locations in west Nepal.

    Earlier, it said the guerrillas, who have waged a
    five-year campaign to topple Nepal's multi-party democracy and
    install a communist republic, had formed a shield of women and
    children around the police and were in a stand-off with the
    army.

    Newspapers on Friday said the new prime minister's first
    task would be to secure the release of the policemen.

    The two key candidates for the prime minister's job are
    Ram Chandra Poudel, who quit last week as deputy prime
    minister over differences with Koirala on how to quell the
    Maoist revolt, and Sher Bahadur Deuba, who headed a coalition
    from 1995 to 1997. Party officials said Foreign Minister
    Chakra Prasad Bastola and party General Secretary Sushil
    Koirala could also be contenders.

    The new prime minister will be the eleventh to lead Nepal,
    which has been racked by political instability since it became
    a constitutional monarchy in 1990.

    While Koirala has resigned as prime minister, he remains
    president of the Nepal Congress which holds a majority in the
    205-seat parliament, and is seen as the kingmaker.

    Koirala, whose latest term in office marked his fourth
    time as prime minister, came to power 16 months ago promising
    to fight corruption and end the Maoist revolt.

    He had faced violent street protests and strident
    political calls both inside and outside his party to quit amid
    charges he failed to live up to his promises.

    The Maoists have stepped up their drive to set up a
    one-party communist republic since June 1 when Crown Prince
    Dipendra mowed down his parents and other members of the royal
    family before shooting himself. Gyanendra, the king's brother
    who was out of town at the time of the bloodbath, has taken
    over as monarch.

    In another development millions of students stayed home as
    schools across the nation were shut by a protest called by a
    radical students seen as close to the Maoist party to protest
    against a recent increase in Nepal's defence budget.

    The students belonging to the All Nepal National
    Independent Student Union (Revolutionary) said the money had
    been taken away from education to be used to crush the Maoist
    revolt.


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