Army chief meets defence minister
Kantipur Report
KATHMANDU, June 18 - Chief of the Army Staff Rookmangud Katawal and Lt. Gen. Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, the third in command of the Army, met Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari on Wednesday.
During the meeting, the top Army officials called for early withdrawal of the UCPN (Maoist)-led government's decision to sack Gen. Katawal and appoint Kul Bahadur Khadka as the acting Chief of the Army Staff. The government has not yet revoked Khadka's May 3 appointment as the acting chief though he retires on Sunday. Bhandari assured Katawal and Gurung that Khadka's appointment will be scrapped once the Cabinet gets full shape, a source said. The Army officials also discussed with the minister the possibility of initiating departmental action against Khadka.
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is not in favour of taking departmental action against Khadka, said the source.
Bhandari said annual budgetary allocation for the Army figured in Wednesday's meeting
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