Kathmandu, February 12
Nepal’s government has decided to appoint DIG Jaya Bahadur Chand as the new police chief.
A meeting of the Cabinet on Sunday morning took the decision, just three days after the meeting was put off following a dispute in the ruling coalition.
Chand succeeds IGP Upendrakanta Aryal, who has already retired. While Prime Minister Prachanda was in favour of the senior-most DIG Navaraj Silwal, Nepali Congress chief wanted Chand, the third senior-most officer in the ranks to be appointed to the post.
According to a source, Deuba instructed Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi to tender his resignation if the Prime Minister did not yield to his demand. The source told Onlinekhabar that the Prime Minister had suggested that the second senior-most Prakash Aryal could be a compromise candidate for the job.
Deuba, however, was adamant that Chand, who hails from Far-west Nepal (the NC chief’s constituency) be named Aryal’s successor. Chand had been lobbying hard to rally support from Nepali Congress leaders from the Far-west.
“This is a golden opportunity for the Far-west to get an IGP,” Chand has been quoted as saying. In addition to this, Chand is also learnt to have assured Deuba that he would support the Nepali Congress during the soon-to-be-held elections.
All Assistant IGs in the Nepal Police also retire along with IGP Aryal. That is why the government picked the new IG from the Police’s pool of DIGs.
