On 4 August 2005, Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry called for more Indo-Fijians, who presently comprise less than one percent of the Military personnel, to be recruited.

Downer met government ministers and officials, Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry, and Military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama.

Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry joined the ADB on 31 December 2005, saying that foreign companies repatriated much of the profit made in Fiji, rather than investing it locally, while taking advantage of the infrastructure funded by Fijian taxpayers without paying any taxes themselves.

" His dismissal attracted a strong reaction from Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry, who said that whereas Kotobalavu was paid to be the Prime Minister's spin doctor.

On May 19, 2000, a disparate gang led by Speight stormed the parliamentary complex and kidnapped Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and 35 other parliamentarians for the i Taukei ( indigenous ) rights, including Cabinet ministers.

He attracted support from certain elements of the Fijian population who were angered by the results of the 1999 election, which had swept away a government dominated by ethnic Fijians and brought to power a multiracial government led by Mahendra Chaudhry, who became Fiji's first-ever Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.

At a more personal level, a spokesman for deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that on principle, — provided that he reveal the identities of the persons who had planned and financed the coup.

By the time his son attempted his putsch in 2000, however, Sam Speight was an opposition member of Parliament, his Fijian Political Party having lost power to the Indo-Fijian-led Labour Party of Mahendra Chaudhry in the elections of 1999.

Mahendra Pal Chaudhry ( Hindi: मह े न ् द ् र प ा ल च ौ धर ी ) ( born 9 February 1942 ) is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party.

Mahendra Chaudhry's ancestral ties are with the village of Bahu Jamalpur in Rohtak District, in the Indian state of Haryana. His grandfather, Ram Nath Chaudhry, arrived in Fiji in 1902, as an indentured labourer, to work on Fiji's sugarcane plantations.

FLP decided to field Mahendra Chaudhry, who was also the general secretary of the National Farmers Union, as its candidate.

Mahendra Chaudhry, then had no choice but to lead the FLP into the election.

At the scheduled press conference on 9 December, the Prime Minister revealed a confidential letter from Mahendra Chaudhry, written on National Farmers Union ( NFU ) letterhead in his capacity as General Secretary of the Union, to Charles Walker, chairman of the Fiji Sugar Corporation ( FSC ), in September 2003.

On 5 December 2005, lawyer Rajendra Chaudhry filed a writ against the Daily Post, on behalf of his father, Fiji Labour Party ( FLP ) leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

# redirect Mahendra Chaudhry

After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase joined the Interim Military Government as a financial adviser on 9 June 2000, until his appointment as Prime Minister on 4 July.

He had been Prime Minister since 2001, except for a period of two days ( 14 – 16 March 2001 ), when he temporarily vacated the office to meet a constitutional technicality ; the Supreme Court of Fiji had ruled that his government was unconstitutional and that Mahendra Chaudhry remained the rightful Prime Minister.

On 4 September, Qarase reacted angrily to allegations made by Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry that he and his party used hate speech to gain the support of the indigenous community.

On 24 June 2005, former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry called on Qarase to resign in the wake of what Chaudhry called " very serious allegations " made against him by Roman Catholic Archbishop Petero Mataca, who had publicly accused the Prime Minister of misleading a delegation of church leaders on 2 May about what the Reconciliation and Unity legislation contained.

On 5 December, lawyer Rajendra Chaudhry, acting for his father, Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry, gave Qarase a three-day ultimatum to apologize for what he said were defamatory allegations, that Chaudhry had attempted to collect a commission on an F $ 86 million dollar loan from the Indian government for the reform of Fiji's sugar industry, or else face a lawsuit.

At a press conference on 9 December, the Prime Minister revealed a confidential letter from Mahendra Chaudhry, written on National Farmers Union ( NFU ) letterhead in his capacity as General Secretary of the Union, to Charles Walker, chairman of the Fiji Sugar Corporation ( FSC ), in September 2003.

Bavadra's widow, Kuini ( later Adi Kuini Speed ) took the leadership of the party after her husband's death in 1989, but was deposed in 1991 by Mahendra Chaudhry.

Baba launched the NLUP in June 2001 after resigning from the Fiji Labour Party ( FLP ) of former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, who had been deposed in the Fiji coup of 2000.

Believing that President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was not dealing effectively with the situation, Bainimarama apparently forced Mara to resign on 29 May 2000, in what some politicians have since called " a coup within a coup ," and formed an Interim Military Government which negotiated an accord under which the rebels would release all hostages, including the deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, and would surrender without penalty.

In what was one of Fiji's most bitterly fought elections ever, the newly formed United Fiji Party of the interim Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase narrowly defeated the Fiji Labour Party of deposed former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

The NFP contested the 2001 election, on a platform calling for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into the Fiji coup of 2000, which had deposed the elected government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the removal of Value added tax from basic items, reduction of telephone and postal bills, national healthcare insurance for all workers, and consolidation of the independence of the judiciary.

Seniloli was appointed Vice-President in 2000 as an apparent gesture of appeasement towards the supporters of the 2000 coup which deposed the lawfully elected government of President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

In 2000, a prison was opened on Nukulau, to house George Speight and other perpetrators of the 2000 coup that deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry's government.

He held the office just 18 months before being deposed and imprisoned by order of King Mahendra.

It was founded by Tupeni Baba, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Party stalwart, who had become dissatisfied with Mahendra Chaudhry's leadership and expressed fears that if Chaudhry, who had been deposed in the Fiji coup of 2000, returned as Prime Minister, there could be another coup.

He added, however, that acknowledging the government of deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry as the lawful government of the land would be the right place to start.

Some, including Mahendra Chaudhry, believe that he was forcibly deposed.

Tuivaga was subsequently sued by members of the deposed government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry for his role in abrogating the constitution, which all judges were bound by oath to uphold.

Following the coup d ' état which deposed the elected government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry in 2000, the BKV contested the election held to restore democracy in 2001.

Following the royal coup by King Mahendra in 1960, many leaders of party, including Prime Minister B. P.

Gunmen led by George Speight forced their way into Parliament and kidnapped the Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, several Cabinet ministers, and a number of parliamentarians.

Mahendra Chaudhry, the leader of the Indo-Fijian community who in 1999 became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, said that he did not agree with, but understood, Mara's reasons for acting as he did, and accepted his apology for having done so.

* A group led by George Speight takes Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and others hostage in the Parliament building of Fiji in Suva.

* President Mara dismisses Mahendra Chaudhry and appoints Ratu Tevita Momoedonu as Prime Minister in his place.

After the 1999 election, Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry refused to include his defeated foes, the Fijian Political Party, in his Cabinet, despite its holding of eight seats in the House of Representatives.

This happened during the 2000 coup, when Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was kidnapped and held hostage by gunmen working for the chief insurrectionist, George Speight.

Baba returned to his academic career, taking a post as a lecturer at the University of Suva, where he remained until 1999, when he was again elected to Parliament and became Foreign Minister and one of two Deputy Prime Ministers in the government of Mahendra Chaudhry.

On 15 May 2005, the publication of " Speight of Violence ," coauthored by Baba, his wife Unaisi Nabobo-Baba ( a fellow USP academic ( at the time ) now ( 2011 ) of the University of Guam ) and journalist Michael Field, generated controversy with the claim that Mahendra Chaudhry had promised him the Prime Ministership before and during the 1999 election campaign, and that Chaudhry had reneged on that promise.

For 56 days Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and most of his cabinet, along with many parliamentarians and their staff, were held as hostages while Speight attempted to negotiate with the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who denounced the coup and declared a state of emergency.

Forming a coalition with her former party, the Fiji Labour Party Adi Kuini became one of two Deputy Prime Ministers in the coalition government led by Mahendra Chaudhry.