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Nepal President declines China's Olympics invitation

by Sanjay Jha | August 3, 2008 at 02:28 am | 295 views | 3 comments | 9 recommendations

President Yadav calls for national unity

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In a first major political & diplomatic move newly elected Nepalese President has refused to go to China to attend the inaugural functions of Olympic games. Newly elected President doesn't want to send any signal of closeness with China and antagonise its powerful neighbour India. After Prime Minister Koirala stopped by in India enroute to Sri Lanka, there has been speculation that President would go to China as his first trip. A section of Nepal's media had been making much ado over the Olympic invitation, taking it for granted that Yadav would go. It had been projected as China's diplomatic triumph over India. Even Maoist chief Prachanda's desire to visit Mao Zedong's birthplace has been obstructed by the political impasse in Nepal and his party's failure to form the new government.

In an unprecedented move, Nepal's new head of state, President Ram Baran Yadav, has declined China’s invitation to attend the Olympic Games at Beijing this week.

"The president is busy consulting the political Parties about the formation of the new government and feels he should stay in the country to swear in the new government, which could be formed any time," officials from the president's office and the foreign ministry said.

Last week, Yadav had asked the Maoists, who became the largest party after the April elections, to form the government within seven days. The deadline ends Tuesday.

If the former rebels' effort to cobble a consensus government fails, they have said they intend to muster majority in the house or even failing that, try to push a minority government of their own.

However, should that too fail, the president might ask the anti-Maoist coalition of three other major parties to have a go at forming the new government.

In the past, the top political leaders have been known to abandon their stations at home even in the midst of dire crises to attend inconsequential junkets abroad.

The latest such controversy erupted in Nepal last week when caretaker Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala went to the 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo though his resignation had been accepted and the major parties were calling for the president to represent Nepal at the summit.