Nepal poor because of poor governance: Communist leader

Kathmandu, July 21: Khadga Prasad Oli, newly-elected chairman of Nepal's largest communist party, Monday blamed poor governance for the poverty in the country.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) chief, in his first major public pronouncement since his election last week, asked party members to work towards achieving prosperity of the country, Xinhua reported.

He said that the country, despite having abundant resources, happened to fall into the league of poor nations as the government and its citizens had failed to create a national identity.

Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with a Human Development Index of 0.463, placing it 157th out of 187 countries listed in the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report 2013. Over 30 per cent of Nepalese people live on less than $14 per person, per month, according to the national living standards survey conducted in 2010-2011.

Oli also asserted that the CPN-UML alone had the vision for the development of the nation.

Oli, 62, and a former deputy premier of the country, defeated his rival Madhav Kumar Nepal, a former prime minister and a general secretary of the CPN-UML for 15 years, by a mere 44 votes in the party election held last week.

Stating that the CPN-UML has been struggling continually for the establishment of republican democracy in Nepal for the last six decades, Oli said that his party's sole aim was to ensuring good governance and development after the drafting of the constitution.

He also asked party members to focus upon making the party more dynamic by setting aside the rift shown during the recent election for a new leadership.

During his address to party workers here, he also asked all concerned to optimally utilise the country's resources for bringing about economic transformation.

IANS