Maoists tried to buy MPs: Report
Kathmandu, Sept. 4: Nepal’s opposition Maoist party has been dragged into a snowballing scandal with a leaked audio tape indicating the former guerrillas sought 500 million Nepali rupees (NRS) from Chinese friends to buy MPs votes ahead of Sunday’s election to choose a new prime minister.
The allegations have been, however, denied by both the Maoists, who called the tape a fake, and the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu.
The furore was triggered by an audio tape aired by the Indian television channel in Nepali, Nepal 1, on Friday night.
The nearly 20-minute tape has two conversations, allegedly between Mr Krishna Bahadur Mahara, former Maoist information and communications minister, who’s currently the MP in charge of the party’s foreign affairs, and an unidentified male caller who, from the conversation, seems to be a Chinese middleman.
The tape follows accusations by a fringe communist party leader, Mr Chandra Prakash Mainali, on Tuesday that he was offered NRS 50 million if he voted for them in Sunday’s election.
As Nepal’s Parliament votes on Sunday, for the sixth time in two months, to elect a new Prime Minister, the indications are that the poll will yet again end in a fiasco with the opposition Maoist party failing to win, especially with horse-trading allegations.
Four regional parties from the Terai plains will abstain from voting, as they have in the earlier five rounds, dealing yet another blow to Maoist hopes. Their combined support can help Mr Prachanda become PM.
However, Mr Rajendra Mahato, whose Sadbhavana Party is a member of the Terai front, said: “A party that still retains its guns and fighters can’t hope to lead the new government.”
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