The preparations for the May Day rally are in full swing and thousands of Maoist cadre have already entered Kathmandu. Kantipur writes:

The Maoists have housed more than 20 thousands party workers in 38 different venues in the capital including schools, hotels, catering houses and YCL camps, the police said. Beside that, there are also thousands of party workers in Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.

The People’s Liberation Army is in red alert. The Kathmandu Post writes:

The UCPN (Maoist)  on Tuesday directed all its combatants to remain on the high alert keeping in mind the latest political situation. In a press release, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) commander Nanda Kishor Pun Pasang directed its units to immediately call back all the combatants who are on home leave.

A PLA commander has been arrested with a hand grenade and a khukuri as he was on his way to Kathmandu, according to the police. Nepalnews writes:

UNMIN has condemned what it called “reckless” act of Maoist army platoon commander who was arrested in possession of a hand grenade while traveling on public transportation on Tuesday.

Early today morning, UNMIN chief Karen Landren met Maoist vice chairman Babu Ram Bhattarai at the latter’s residence in Shanti Nagar and expressed concern about the Maoist platoon commander and party’s preparations for the May Day protests.

In response, Bhattarai said, the commander in question was on a home leave and that the party has no information about the grenade in his possession.

In other parts of the country, Maoists have intensified their donation extortion campaign, writes Republica:

The UCPN-Maoist has stepped up extortion drive across the country.

The party has been extorting Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 from small businessmen, Rs 100,000 to Rs 1,000,000 with big entrepreneurs while private educational institutions have been forced to pay anything between Rs 50,000 to Rs 3, 00000.

Similarly, the Maoists have demanded a month´s salary with the teachers and government employees in the districts. The party is also collecting donations from every Village Development Committee (VDC) offices in Gorkha. They have also begun door to door campaign in Tanahun, Lamjung, Gorkha and Chitwan districts to collect donations.

The Maoists, however, have refuted such allegations. “People are donating voluntarily. We have not forced them to donate,” said Chudamani Khada (Prakash), secretary of Gorkha district, adding, “We have only requested government employees, teachers, businessmen and various institutions to provide financial, physical and moral support for to our movement,” he added.

Correction: As a reader points out, the Maoist platoon commander was caught with one hand grenade, not 36 as previously reported. We apologised for the error.