Maoists have threatened an Indian company to halt all works on 300 MW Upper Karnali Hydropower Project saying it is not in favor of the country. The Himalayan Times quotes the party’s politburo member Khadka Bahadur Bishwokarma:

“The project is not in favor of our country and as such, we have directed the Indian company to stop the construction work.”

The Maoists were also in the coalition government that awarded the contract to the Indian company. But, Bishwokarma argued that “the government took the decision by hoodwinking his party”. Republica reports:

“We had objected to the involvement of GMR [the company] in the project from the very beginning. Now the issue is linked with the party’s national independence campaign,” he said.

That makes sense. They did not want to halt the project while 80 percent of it was being completed. And, they conveniently remembered it now because they needed something to raise a raucous.

This India-bashing isn’t going very well in India. On Tuesday, residents of the border town of Jogbani protested against the Maoists for using the Indian national flag in a derogatory manner, writes Republica:

The security on both sides of border has been beefed up due to the protest. In the posters that the Maoists prepared for the fourth-round of their protest against government, the Indian flag is shown below a shoe.

We are guessing this means Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s admiration of ‘special relationship’ between the two countries in an interview with an Indian news agency yesterday didn’t really assure the protesters. Kantipur reports:

Dahal said the two countries had a special relationship because of the open border as well historic, geographic and cultural relationship. “We should make this relationship stronger on a new basis,” he said.

Dahal also mentioned that two of his daughters were married to Indian nationals, adding that the relationship with India was one of “roti ra beti“.

Meanwhile, let’s see what Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is up to. He just restored his privilege to hand out money to whomever he wants. According to Republica:

The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has revoked a newly introduced provision to clip the prime minister´s discretionary power to dole out financial assistance to individuals and organizations from the state coffers, within less than three weeks after it inserted the provision in the Financial Assistance Directive.

Now the PM will be allowed again to distribute assistance to poor people and those suffering from critical diseases. The directive is, however, silent on the definition of poor and people suffering from critical diseases.