YCL debacle: Prachanda threatens to quit govt; YCL organises protest against police raid

A day after the police raid at the Young Communist League (YCL) offices in the Kathmandu Valley, Maoist chairman Prachanda has warned that his party would opt out of the government if the election to Constituent Assembly is not held on the stipulated time as a result of such incidents.

Maoist chairman Prachanda (File Photo)

“It will be meaningless to continue to be a part of a government that can’t hold the election,” Prachanda said speaking at a programme organised by Maoist aligned Revolutionary Journalist Association in Surkhet Thursday.

Prachanda also said that the 'Dharchula incident', in which Nepali Congress leaders and activists were attacked by YCL activists, and the police raids at YCL offices in Kathmandu after that “shouldn’t be viewed as similar incidents” and that both these incidents were deliberately staged to provoke the Maoists.

He also made it clear that the people’s revolutionary council that was revived on Wednesday would not engage in collecting donations or taxes like in the past.

Toeing Prachanda's line, senior Maoist leader C.P Gajurel today advised against taking the peoples’ revolutionary council as a “parallel government”, saying that it would only mobilise its resources to make the Constituent Assembly election a success.

Flaying the government for raiding the YCL central office Wednesday evening, Gajurel claimed that the police were now going out of the hand.

However, two other big parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML, aren’t buying the claims that revolutionary councils have been revived across the country to help in the CA election as claimed by Maoist no.2 leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai.

The two parties reacted strongly to the Maoist decision to revive the council, describing it as violation of the peace agreement.

NC leader Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and UML leader Rajendra Pandey, who are members of the SPA taskforce formed to suggest a way to reactivate the local bodies, said the decision to revive the council was "against the comprehensive peace accord."

"I have not gone through the text of the decision, but if that is true it is against the peace process and spirit of the constituent assembly election,” Mahat said.

Similarly, Pandey said the Maoist decision was against the peace accord the Maoists had signed.

Chief of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Ian Martin (File Photo)

Chief of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Ian Martin said the revival of the URPC by the CPN-Maoist would be a breach of the Comprehensive Peace Accord which said that the parallel government the Maoists would be dissolved.

In another development, the YCL organised rallies and mass meetings on Thursday to protest the police raid at its offices.

Addressing a protest gathering at Ratnapark, Maoist leaders claimed the raid was an attempt to foil the constituent assembly election scheduled for April 10 by provoking their party.

YCL chairman Ganesh Man Pun claimed that national and international forces that are trying to save monarchy in one form or the other have been trying to put obstacle on the CA election process.

Chief of the party's Newa state Hit Man Shakya said the Maoist cadres could take the capital city under control had the police prolonged the raid at YCL offices last evening.

Similarly, organising a press conference earlier today, the YCL sought clarification from the office of the prime minister regarding the police raid and demanded resignation of the home minister.

Police teams had raided the YCL offices in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, but didn’t find any weapons. nepalnews.com ag/ia Feb 07 08