Tag Archives: baburam bhattarai

For an “Austere” Prime Minister, Far Too Many (and Costly) Helicopter Rides

Posted on January 26, 2013 by | 2 Comments

But that’s the contradictory and hypocritical nature of Baburam Bhattarai. Can the Mustang-rider PM reveal the source of his party’s income to pay for his choppers fare?

By Siromani Dhungana

And the earth is round! Russian Mi-17 and French AS332 Super Puma helicopters were used by the then governments to fight against the decade-long Maoist insurgency (1996-2006) The story has taken a twist now and rebellion-turned-Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has been one of the frequent users of these flying machines.

Hiring these choppers cost from Rs 0.42 million to more than Rs 0.44 million for an hour, but that does not seem to deter our Mustang-rider Bhattarai from hiring helicopters for campaigning in favor of his party UCPN Maoist.

PM Bhattarai has spent Rs 19.09 million in chopper after assuming charge of the Prime Minister’s office in August 29‚ 2011, reports Kantipur Television.

He has chartered AS332 Super Puma and MI-17 helicopters of Nepal Army Air Wing for 23 times since August 2011. Dr Bhattarai, however, has cleared the chopper fair only once.

In September 2011, PM Bhattarai had said that his party would bear the cost of chartered flights that he takes to attend programs organized by the party. Speaking before the then State Affairs Committee of the parliament, the PM said the state would not have to bear the financial burden of his visits to party programs. Continue reading →

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Posted in Eye on Maoist, government

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Prime Minister Baburam in India: Agreements Signed and Some Photos Clicked

Posted on October 22, 2011 by | Leave a comment
Baburam Bhattarai and Man Mohan Singh

Baburam Bhattarai and Man Mohan Singh

Nepal, India ink two major deals including BIPPA

  • BIPPA a calculated gamble: PM

By Akhilesh Upadhyay and Mahesh Acharya
in The Kathmandu Post

Nepal and India singed two major agreements, including the much-talked about Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA), here late on Friday (yesterday). This brings to a close days of hectic negotiations and speculations over the fate of BIPPA, which India has sought to protect security for its investments in Nepal.

Minster for Industry Anil Kumar Jha and Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee signed the agreement at Hyderabad House, the government venue for high-level negotiations in India. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattrai and his counterpart Manmohan Singh were present at the signing.

The two sides also agreed to a $250-million line of credit to finance infrastructure projects such as highways, airports and bridges. The credit line was announced during President Ram Baran Yadav’s state visit to Delhi last year. In the run-up to the visit, PM Bhattarai is known to have pitched for a $1 billion and was expecting even more, government sources said. India responded positively, according to officials. Continue reading →

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Posted in Nepal-India

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Does Baburam Bhattarai Need Political Adversaries like Mohan Baidya When he has a Wife like Hisila Yami?

Posted on September 28, 2011 by | 4 Comments

LEFT TO RIGHT: Sita Dahal, her husband Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Dr Baburam Bhattarai and his wife Hisila Yami pose for a photo before heading to what is now known as the historic Chunwang Baithak (meeting) in Chunwang, Rolpa in 2005. Pic via Dinesh Shrestha

‘Choosy’ Hisila Yami Cheapens Her PM Hubby’s Resolves  हिसिला यमी जस्ती भ्रष्ट श्रीमती भएपछि प्रधानमन्त्री बाबुरामलाई मोहन बैद्य जस्ता राजनीतिक शत्रु किन चाहियोस ?

By Bhadra Sharma

[प्रधानमन्त्रीकी भ्रष्ट पत्नी: १६ लाखको मुस्ताङ चढने प्रधानमन्त्रीकी श्रीमती हिसिला यमीलाई डेड करोडको प्राडो चाहियो ! जवकी प्रधानमन्त्रीकी श्रीमतीलाई गाडी दिने कानूनी प्रावधानै छैन । सस्तो गाडी दिँदा उनले मुख्य सचिवलाई भनिन्- " त्यो गिरिजाले चढेको थोत्रो, मलाई नयाँ चाहियो ।" प्रधानमन्त्रीले बोलाएको भन्दै सचिवहरूलाई बालुवाटारस्थित प्रम निवासमा झुक्याएर बोलाउने यमीले आफै सचिवहरूलाई निर्देशन दिन्छिन् । स्रोत: काठमान्डू पोष्ट]

While Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has been meticulously following the austerity measures in a bid to create a better image of his government, his wife Hisila Yami, a prominent leader in the Maoist party, seems to be swimming against the current. Sources said many of her recent acts watered down her husband’s resolves.

In a clear breach of the PM’s recent directives, Yami demanded a Prado, a Toyota car that costs Rs 15 million, from the Prime Minister’s Office only last week. PM Bhattarai, in sharp contrast, rides a Nepal-assembled Mustang car, which costs Rs 1.6 million. Continue reading →

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Bijay Gachhedar, the Corrupt Home Minister, Kicks out a Competent Home Secretary from the Ministry

Posted on September 17, 2011 by | 3 Comments
bijay_gachhedar_gudpak_in_the_mouth_of_corrupt_cartoon_by_rajesh_kc

Doesn't this man look like Bijay Kumar Gachhedar, the corrupt Home Minister? A cartoon by Rajesh KC

By Kiran Chapagain in Republica
Cartoon by Rajesh KC 

The bad news is that despite Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s own assurances that the government secretaries would not be transferred within the first month of his entering Baluwatar just to appease any individual or group, the cabinet meeting on Friday (yesterday) transferred Home Secretary Leela Mani Paudyal, describing it as an ‘exceptional step’ to address deepening misunderstanding between minister and secretary. A cabinet source told Republica newspaper that the cabinet took the decision upon a “special request” by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar. “Since the home minister has said repeatedly that he has not been on the same wavelength as Home Secretary Paudyal, I have been compelled to take the decision, though it goes against my own words. This decision should be taken as an exception,” a source quoted the prime minister as saying in the cabinet. Continue reading →

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Tracking the Indian Ambassador to Nepal: Jayant Prasad-2

Posted on September 14, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Nice shoe your excellency.

Indian Ambassador Jayant Prasad with Nepali Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai

Nice Shoes Mr. Ambassador! Indian or Italian?: Indian Ambassador Jayant Prasad, left, with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. BTW, check out a photo below for a meet between two Prime Ministers of Nepal and India when MKN was PM in Nepal. Unfortunately, no shoe show off ceremony will be noticed.

Previous post: Tracking the Indian Ambassador in Nepal: Jayant Prasad-1

SEP 13: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai summoned Indian Ambassador Jayant Prasad at his office and discussed the possibility of rescinding the Patna High Court verdict in which it slapped jail terms and fines on 11 senior Maoists leaders. “The PM inquired the envoy how the Indian government would manage to dismiss the conviction by a court,” PM’s Press Adviser Ram Rijan Yadav said. The PHC has slapped sentences varying from two years in jail to six years and fines ranging from IRs 375,000 to IRs 700,000 on Nepali Maoist leaders in absentia on the charges of indulging in activities against what it called ‘sovereignty of India and Nepal’. Continue reading →

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Posted in Foreign Affairs, Nepal-India

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American Diplomatic Cable: American to Meet Maoist Baburam?

Posted on September 9, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Yeah, that was back in 2003 when, we belive, Baburam hadn’t even dreamed of being the Prime Minister that he is today :) 

2003-04-16 09:59
C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000691 

SIPDIS 

DEPARTMENT FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/SA
LONDON FOR POL - GURNEY 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/15/2013
TAGS: PTER PREL NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  MAOISTS TO MEET EMBOFFS 

REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 0677 

     śB. (B) STATE 90666
     śC. (C) STATE 74113
     śD. (D) KATHMANDU 0621 

Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI.  REASON:  1.5 (B,D). 

ś1.  (C)  Following Ref C guidance, on April 16 poloff
contacted known Maoist sympathizer Padma Ratna Tuladhar to
convey Embassy agreement to meet at the First Secretary level
with Maoist representatives.  Poloff advised Tuladhar that
the RSO will also participate in the meeting, which has been
tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, April 25,
at the Embassy.

Continue reading →

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American Diplomatic Cable: A Turgid Maoist Letter to Americans That Baburam Bhattarai May Have Written

Posted on September 7, 2011 by | 1 Comment

2002-05-07 13:14

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000893

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV OVIP PREL NP
SUBJECT: MAOISTS SEND LETTER TO AMERICANS ON PM’S VISIT

¶1. Local media outlets received by e-mail the afternoon
of May 7 a letter from the International Department of
the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) addressed “To Our
Friends in America.” A copy of the letter has been
faxed to SA/INS. Continue reading →

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Baburam Bhattarai Wanted to Meet the US Ambassador’s Rep in 2003…

Posted on August 31, 2011 by | Leave a comment

…thinking that the Ambassador himself may not meet him. How times of have changed! The American Ambassador has gone to meet him, most recently, two days ago Baburam became the Prime Minister. 

US diplomatic cables as revealed by Wikileaks. Report by John Narayan Parajuli

US officials saw Maoist Vice Chairman Baburam Bhattarai (who is not the Priem Minister of Nepal) as the party’s “most authoritative wordsmith,” and took serious note of both his aboveground appearance in 2003 and the missive he sent to the US embassy requesting a meeting the same year.

Bhattarai’s movement and remarks appeared to be closely monitored by the US embassy, especially after his arrival in the Capital on March 28, 2003 for talks with the Sher Bahadur Deuba government. This was the first time Bhattarai emerged in the Capital in full public view, since the beginning of the insurgency in 1996. Continue reading →

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Equation of Pushpa Kamal Dahal & Baburam Bhattarai is the Most Important Equation

Posted on August 30, 2011 by | 5 Comments

An analysis by Akhilesh Upadhyay in The Kathmandu Post

Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal invited a select group of editors to his Nayabazaar residence last Wednesday. Expectations ran high, even though Dahal’s office had pitched the meeting as “a regular exchange on current affairs.”

The Maoist party, as it turned out, came up with a detailed proposal on integration and rehabilitation of ex-combatants the next day—the first such document since the peace process started in 2006.

Despite the perceptible decline in his stature in recent years, Dahal still remains the most important political figure in the current transition. His stated ideas and implied messages become subjects of heated debates and raging controversies across the country. Continue reading →

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Everything You Wanted to Know about Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai (and his Mustang Car)

Posted on August 29, 2011 by | 16 Comments
Baburam Bhattarai in 1970

Baburam Bhattarai in 1970 when he topped the School Leaving Certificate exam.

The impression: Nepali people have rarely been so optimistic about the Prime Minister as they are with Baburam Bhattarai and it’s a rare sight when Nepalis across the political spectrum (especially those who are considered general population- students, youths, activists) express satisfaction, relief, even happiness, over the election of a person to the post of Prime Minister. It seems as if the whole country has put its faith and hope on Baburam Bhattarai. Going by the Facebook statues, tweets and tea-talks on the streets of Kathmandu, the election of Baburam Bhattarai yesterday as the 35th Prime Minister of Nepal seems to be the best thing to have happened in Nepal in a long long time. While putting enormous faith on his the nation seems to have forgotten that BRB is a Maoist who waged a 10-year-old bloody war that killed 15000 Nepalis.  BUT, and this is a big one, will he be able to live up to the sky-high expectation of Nepali people? Lets hope he does.

On a lighter note, Prime Minister BRB will be riding a locally assembled car called Mustang- nothing to do with Ford, I assume. (Mustang is a Himalayan district that borders China.) This car (see pic below) is cheap compared to what other Prime Ministers have used in the past. Continue reading →

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