By IANS,
Kathmandu : The chief of Nepal’s ruling party is heading for New Delhi on a week-long visit Tuesday for consultations with Indian leaders after the republic’s political parties failed to persuade the former Maoist guerrillas to call off their protests, which have crippled the government.
Jhalanath Khanal, whose Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist is leading the current 22-party government in Nepal, will be holding talks in the Indian capital with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, president of India’s ruling Congress party, who have expressed support for the present government of Nepal, despite the Maoists’ demand for its dissolution.
Khanal will also hold consultations with India’s communist leaders, who are regarded as being close to the Nepal Maoists, like Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The communist leader will consult India’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leaders as well and is scheduled to hold a meeting with its chief Rajnath Singh.
Khanal was invited by the Indian government, his party said.
Nepal’s communist-headed government is grappling with fresh Maoist protests that started Sunday.
On Tuesday, the former rebels continued picketing village administration and municipal offices nationwide bringing the work of the government to a standstill.
They have also vowed to blockade Kathmandu valley Nov 10 when they have threatened to prevent all flights to and from the country’s only international airport.
Alongside the street protests, the Maoists, who are also the largest party in parliament, have kept up a siege of the house since May, when their short-lived government collapsed.
The parliament blockade has made it impossible for the government to pass the budget, triggering a financial crisis.
Civil servants and security forces have not received pay since last month while the finance ministry said Nepal’s prisons and hospitals were running out of food and medicine.
Food scarcity has also been reported from the remote districts.
The Maoists are demanding an apology from President Ram Baran Yadav, who they say acted unconstitutionally when he reinstated the chief of the army, Gen Rookmangud Katawal, whom they had sacked.
Besides protests by the Maoists, the government is also under pressure from a former ally.
The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, once the largest party in the southern Terai plains and an ally of the government, is now split into two over supporting the ruling alliance.
Former foreign minister Upendra Yadav, who heads a faction of the party, has asked the government to give the Hindi language the status of state language and reinstate Vice-President Parmananda Jha, who has been suspended for taking his oath of office in Hindi.
Yadav is also leaving for Delhi Tuesday for talks with Indian leaders.
The Maoists have already begun criticising Khanal’s India visit, saying it proved the government was a puppet propped up by India.