Baburam, Mahara met Indian leaders: Prachanda
Giving a new twist to the on-going controversy over the meeting between senior Nepali Maoists and Indian leaders, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Prachanda, has said his colleague-turned-rival, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, and party spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara had met Indian officials in New Delhi recently.
In a statement issued Friday, the Maoist supremo said his party had dispatched Bhattarai and Mahara duo to New Delhi in view of the royal takeover on Feb 1 “ to learn the position of Indian political parties, including that of the Indian government and also to explain the party’s viewpoints.”
Earlier in an audio tape made public by the Royal Nepalese Army, Prachanda had alleged his colleague, Dr. Bhattarai of being pro-India and claimed that India had asked him to reinstate Bhattarai within the party. The party had taken action against Bhattarai for criticizing the supremacy of Prachanda within the underground outfit.
Both the Indian government and Dr. Bhattarai refuted allegations made by Prachanda. Dr. Bhattarai even alleged the Maoist leadership of being pro-palace.
Prachanda’s latest confirmation of the visit to Delhi by Dr. Bhattarai and Mahara has come amid denials from the Indian government and Dr. Bhattarai himself that he had met CPI general secretary, Prakash Karat, with the help of Indian intelligence agencies. Karat also denied reports that he had met Bhattarai “with the help of Indian intelligence agencies.”
Both Karat and Bhattarai had studied in New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Prachanda even mentioned that his party was also interacting with the US and Europe to strengthen the pro-democracy movement in Nepal.
Meanwhile, Indian government has insisted that there hasn’t been any shift in its policy towards the Nepali insurgents.
“There is no change in respect of our policy with regard to the CPN (Maoists). We unequivocally condemn their terrorist and violent activities that have caused enormous suffering to the people of Nepal," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday.
“It is our conviction that that there is no purely military solution to the Maoist insurgency," he added. nepalnews.com by May 28 05
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