For Prachanda now it won't be as easy as to ride somebody else's stolen horse. In 'Nepal' magazine, there was a front page picture of Prachanda riding a white horse within days the rightful owner of the horse named "Sete". The owner is Bakhat Bahadur Kunwar, aged 71, of Parbat district, Ranipani village. He wants his horse back. He is now IDP (internally displaced person) and lives in Kathmandu like so many tens of thousands, thanks to the Maoists. For the Maoists, who are using forcibly captured vehicles, returning the horse would probably not be priority.

But two points out:  (1) can a political party or anybody for that matter misuse somebody else's property and is that a democratic practice, and (2) is it now all right to keep on continuing this practice after the end of the so called insurgency.

Maoist plenum was held at Balaju, Kathmandu. It is reported that over hundred vehicles were used. Most of the vehicles belonged to different offices in the districts, and those vehicles were taken from offices of Drinking Water, Village Development Committees, Forest, and Roads by Maoist district in-charge. These offices are under the ministries manned by Maoists.
 
Now Prachanda wants to encompass both 'people revolution' and Constituent Assembly (CA) elections at that time. Every primary student of politics realizes that these are contradicting objectives and even Prachanda would be hard put to be able to reconcile those.

Before that according to Kunda Dixit, "Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal are Nepal's two most powerful men. But they were also the most nervous about elections. Both knew they'd fare badly so they maneuvered to add dissidents to the interim parliament and convert it into a constituent assembly without elections. It was an ill-conceived and ill-concealed plan, one that would have cost the government the little legitimacy it had. Still, they'd probably have pulled it off had they not been warned off by the international."

At the same time, although 37 out of 42 Committees in the Maoist plenum were of the opinion that the Maoists should quit the government and go for people's rebellion, (because of the perceived poor showing in the CA polls), they were told to follow the dotted line by Prachanda. But two preconditions of Republic and proportional representation have been adopted. Thus, if things start going wrong, those preconditions could be activated before CA, during CA or even

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after CA, if the results are not to their liking. But at present the commitment towards CA have to be maintained because of international pressure.

The final word is still not out and Prachanda has a difficult task to bring it out along with change of personnel in Key positions.

However, in the meantime Maoist cadres looted a Police Post in Nuwakot and took away two .303 rifles, a pistol and 115 rounds of ammunition. Forces and YCL are looking for them but a team led by Hit Bahadur Tamang. Tamang met the looters. One doesn't know what conspired. But people guess that like attacks on CDOs, the Maoists will lie low and the incident will pass away. Except looting weapons are involved in this case, Maoist chairman Prachanda sent some Maoists including central leader Agni Sapkota to Nuwakot district. Maoists in the district claim that the dissident cadres have formed a Janavadi Yuva Samuha led by "Kushal".
 
The Election Commissioner visited the Prime Minister today and exerted political parties to commit themselves more effectively for CA polls. We hope that decision about CA is taken very soon in actual reality not only by lip service.

But in the Nepali Times' news poll to the question "which is the biggest obstacle to holding elections in November? The answers were: Terai situation 20.4%; YCL behaviour 47%; Political parties 22.6%; King Gyanendra 9%.

Sher Bahadur Deuba, Pashupati S.J.B. Rana and Amrit Bohra all sound skeptical because of Maoist behaviour. Sher Bahadur Deuba even said that the Police can't look after themselves, how would they provide security for CA elections?

Once again members of the All Nepal Communication and Printing Publication Workers' Association, the pro-Maoist trade union, did not let copies of The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post come out of the printing press located in Bhaisepati, despite a police presence there.

Moreover, pro-Maoist worker's union has forced Dabar Nepal to close down its factory in Bara district.

This is about time that no one's action should be inimical to the conducive atmosphere for CA polls. Those should not be tolerated. And the blame for digracing from this national exercises should be squarely assigned to the perpetrators.