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Nagarjuna palace only “temporary place of residence” for ex-King: Minister Yadav

Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Matrika Prasad Yadav on Thursday made it clear that the government decided to allow former King Gyanendra to stay in Nagarjuna palace “to ease the process of his evacuation” from the Narayanhiti palace and reiterated that the ousted monarch would be entitled to stay there for the time being only.

Speaking at a program organized by Natural Conservation Trust on the occasion of the World Environment Day in Lalitpur Thursday, the outspoken Maoist minister said that the government had only arranged Nagarjuna palace as a “temporary place of residence” for ex-king Gyanendra to immediately evacuate him from the Narayanhiti palace, adding that there was no reason why the state needed to make any kind of arrangements for a deposed king who has already become a common citizen of Nepal.

“This is just a temporary arrangement, after some time he would be asked to leave the Nagarjuna palace also,” he said.

The cabinet meeting on Wednesday had decided to give the Nagarjuna palace to ex-King Gyanendra after he requested the government to make arrangement for his residence as he was vacating the Narayanhiti palace

The forest minister also said that because of the “forces for status quo” all efforts to end the political deadlock seen in the country have become futile.

Stating that without conserving forest and natural resources environmental issues can’t be tackled, he complained that “forest mafias” are still active in destroying Nepal’s natural resources. nepalnews.com ag June 05 08