Two weeks after Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said his request for talks with Delhi was a joke, he launched a “fight for national independence” on Wednesday. The Himalayan Times reports:

Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachande’ today claimed that the foreign powers were attempting to stop the change.

“Despite that, the fight for national independence is on,” said Prachanda while addressing the inauguration of the third National Conference of All Nepal Industrial Workers’ Association at Balaju today.

Prachanda claimed that he was close to realising his dream to make Nepal a sovereign prosperous country. “This success will be hailed by our future generations but if we failed [sic] they will curse us,” he said.

While the Maoists are gearing for a national movement, Nepali Congress and UML are getting ready to hit back at the Maoists with a mass mobilisation campaign. The Kathmandu Post reports:

“Besides a nation-wide political mobilisation to make environment conducive for constitution-making, we have decided to activate the special committee on army integration after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal returns from his China visit,” said NC General Secretary Bimelendra Nidhi. The “political mobilisation,” as Nidhi Said, would take forms of joint mass rallies, political assemblies and other awareness campaigns throughout the country.

We don’t have to wait long for the fireworks as Prime Minister Nepal is returning home from  China on Thursday, with firm support from the Chinese counterparts. Kantipur writes

Chinese President Hu Jintao has expressed confidence that the government under Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal’s leadership can lead the peace process to its logical conclusion and build the constitution on time as per the wishes of Nepali people.

That’s all the juicy news for the day. We wish you a happy new year as we  go back to work on the bumper issue of Nepali Times for Friday.

(Posted by Indu Nepal)