Asia
Nepal king's henchman gets royal snub
Kathmandu | December 12, 2006 2:15:08 PM IST
A royalist politician of Indian origin, who was made deputy prime minister by King Gyanendra, was given a royal snub by his own party and thrown out. Badri Prasad Mandal had split the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) four years ago to support King Gyanendra and formed the NSP-Mandal. On Monday, the veteran politician from the terai plains, who had been keeping a low profile since the king's fall, was stripped of party membership on the ground that he had damaged its democratic image. After sacking the then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the king appointed three successive governments of his own choice, setting the stage for a coup in 2005 when he declared himself head of government. While the major political parties, including the NSP, began public demonstrations against the king's interference, Mandal formed his own splinter party. He was rewarded with the post of deputy prime minister and in 2005, when the Gyanendra led the cabinet as chairman, received the post of agriculture minister. After Mandal became embroiled in a fertiliser graft controversy, along with the then royalist finance minister and home minister, the king dropped the latter two but retained Mandal as general administration minister. The tainted minister survived the purge as his party took part in the controversial local election held by the king, an exercise that was boycotted by over 95 percent of Nepal parties. After the fall of the royal regime, a commission appointed to bring to justice the ministers and officials guilty of abetting the excesses of the regime summoned Mandal for questioning and recommended action against him. The other faction of the NSP, renamed NSP-Anandi, joined forces with the parties opposing King Gyanendra's rule and now is part of the seven-party ruling alliance. Along with Mandal, a legislator from the faction, Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav, too was stripped of party membership. (IANS)
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