Ending weeks of speculation, Nepal’s Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda Sunday fired the army chief Rookmangud Katawal accusing him of defying government orders but the General refused to step down. Lt Gen Kul Bahadur Khadka, the number two in the army and a confidant of Prachanda is named the acting armt chief.
A key constituent of the ruling coalition, CPN(UML), immidiately decided to withdraw its support to the government amidst street protests over Prachanda’s action.
Information Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara told reporters after a special cabinet meeting at the PM’s official residence that Prachanda met with Katawal and Khadka before the sack order was issued. Katawal incurred the ire of Maoists as he stood in the way of integrating the armed Maoist cadres into the army and refused to get rid of eight ‘marked’ generals. His next step is unclear. It is possible he may knock at the Supreme Court
Government’s chief secretary Bhoj Raj Ghimire handed over the sack letter to Katawal soon after the cabinet decision, but he refused to accept it, describing the decision as ‘unconstitutional’. He said he would consult his lawyers. 
Prime Minister Prachanda
Prime Minister Prachanda ‘The army chief was removed because he failed to give a satisfactory explanation on why the government orders were ignored’, Mahara said.
But it was not a consensus decision of the coalition government, according to Deputy Prime Minister Bamdev Gautam, who represents the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist). Many allies walked out of the cabinet meeting. e said ‘We (allies) were insisting ‘that the decision on the army chief should be taken through consensus among all political parties but the prime minister decided to ignore us. We walked out of the Cabinet meeting in protest’.Kul Bahadur Khadka
Besides CPN (UML), the Communist Party of Nepal (United), Sadbhawana Party and Madhesi People’s Rights Forum are also opposed to the action against the army chief.
