A municipal mayor in Sarlahi district says he is being threatened by the cadres of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) because he refused to give in to their extortion demand. Bharat Kumar Thapa, the mayor of Bagmati Municipality, said the party sent him a letter on Wednesday, demanding that he resign in two weeks or be prepared to face dire consequences. The CPN issued the letter after Mayor Thapa refused to pay a large sum of money to the party as a so-called donation. “I have clearly stated to the party workers that I am not going to pay even a single paisa to them,” Thapa said. Chief District Officer Krishna Bahadur Katawal said there have been many reports about the CNP and other groups extorting the elected representatives of late, and the authorities are closely monitoring the activities of these outfits. “There is no need to fear them. The security situation is tight,” he said. A few weeks ago, police had arrested one Pramod Baitha for issuing death threat to Ganesh Prasain, the mayor of Hariwan Municipality. Baitha was trying to extort Rs 2.5 million off of Prasain. In another incident, the house of Abdul Ahad, the ward chairman of Chakraghatta Rural Municipality-4, was targeted by with an improvised explosive device for not yielding to the extortion demand made by alleged CPN activists. Ahad said he is still being threatened