Issuing a statement Monday, the prime minister´s press advisor, Bishnu Rijal, said Nepal was seriously concerned by propaganda launched with the intention of using popular leader Bhandari´s “murder” for Dahal´s political interest. [break]
"Dahal´s statement quoting Prime Minister Nepal as saying Bhandari met his fate due to his outright rejection of a proposal to meet representatives of India and the United States is very objectionable, hateful and irresponsible," the statement said.
The Maoist chairman had claimed at a function Saturday that soon after Bhandari´s death Nepal had made remarks relating it to the UML general secretary´s “defiance” of India and the US. Dahal also said his party colleagues Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha were present at the meeting where Nepal made such remarks. The three Maoist leaders were then in the CPN(Unity Center), Dahal further said.
Such a baseless, fictitious and misleading statement by a former prime minister disparages Dahal´s own political image and credibility, the prime minister´s rejoinder pointed out. "One would not expect such fictitious utterances from any leader who has a minimum of political culture and dignity," the statement added.
Dahal´s India angle
Dahal, who has said that his party would henceforth fight for “national independence” alongside their ongoing campaign for “civilian supremacy”, has trained his guns on India for “interfering” in Nepal´s internal affairs. He has also branded leaders of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML as “puppets” of India.
Even as he has upped his anti-India tirade, especially after he resigned as prime minister, Dahal has been meeting Indian intelligence on the sly outside Nepal. He acknowledged the meetings only after a section of Nepali media exposed them.
He reached London on August 8, 2009 on a five-day visit reportedly to apprise party workers and supporters of party decisions and strategies. He also went to Singapore in mid-November last year, ostensibly to meet hospitalized NC President Girija Prasad Koirala. It turned out that he met Indian intelligence officials. What transpired at the meetings has not been revealed so far, neither by Dahal nor by the Indians.
In 2007, Dahal and Dr Bhattarai were spotted slipping out of the gates of the Indian Embassy. When Nepali mediapersons asked them about the “clandestine meeting with the Indian ambassador”, Dahal laughed it off, saying the media had ambushed him only on that occasion “whereas we have already visited the embassy six-seven times in the past”.
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