Maoists launch campaign for declaring Nepal a republic

Kathmandu, Apr 29 : The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) on Sunday launched a campaign to push for declaring Nepal a republic.The party said that it would take the message through the street, the Parliament and the government.The party formally announced the commencement of its campaign at a press meet in Dhankuta.The "third people's movement" has begun for a republic Nepal, said Gopal Kiranti, the CPN-M central member and Koshi Regional Bureau in-charge.The ruling coalition of eight-political parties had earlier decided that the Constituent Assembly in its first sitting would decide the fate of the monarchy.Since the Election Commission has expressed its inability to hold Constituent Assembly polls on the scheduled date of June 20, the parties have been undecided on new date for holding the elections.The Maoists and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) have been demanding the interim Parliament to declare Nepal a republic.Earlier, Maoist leader Ram Bahadur Thapa had said since the Parliament does not seem inclined to declare Nepal a Republic, they will be launching an agitation on the streets.

Source: Malaysia Sun, April 30, 2007