Former prime ministers gathered in full force to witness Balen Shah’s historic swearing-in. The spotlight, however, couldn’t help but fall on KP Sharma Oli, who chose to skip the ceremony entirely.
Early trends from Nepal’s parliamentary elections indicate a surge for the Rastriya Swatantra Party, with preliminary vote counts suggesting a potential challenge to the country’s traditional political parties.
The CPN-UML chairman used the moment to pay tribute to fallen activists and recall the long years he spent behind bars during the struggle against the Panchayat regime.
CPN-UML's Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali told The Statesman that the move was nothing short of “political revenge, motivated by ill-intention.”
That the issue of Chinese incursions into Nepalese territory was first raised very forcefully by a Nepali Congress legislator from the Karnali Provincial Assembly is in itself significant.
Tensions between India and Nepal escalated after Kathmandu, in a surprise move, issued a new political map which included Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani, areas which have been part of the Indian territory.
Around 36 hectares of land in four districts of Nepal, which border China, have been illegally occupied by China, but so far Nepalese government is tight-lipped about it.
Minister for Water Resources, Sanjay Jha said that the Gandak barrage has 36 gates of which 18 are in Nepal and the neighbouring country has put barriers in the area where the flood-fighting material is present.
In a major setback for India, the parliament of Nepal on Saturday voted in favour of the constitutional amendment bill in a special session to update the country’s map claiming key areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura along the border with India.
On June 9, Nepal's House of Representative had unanimously endorsed the Constitution Amendment Bill to adopt a new map of the country which includes Indian areas of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura.
