CA extends term of Questionnaire Committee by five days

5 Feb, Kathmandu : The meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) held today has extended the term of the Proposal Drafting Committee by five days. 

Dahal asked not to soften stance

KATHMANDU, MAR 08 - UCPN (Maoist) leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal is under pressure to stick to the opposition stance of identity-based federalism and inclusive electoral system. The opposition front is in favour of a 10-province model with identity-based federalism. On the electoral system, the alliance advocates more proportional representation than direct election of legislators.

In a meeting of the 30-party alliance that Dahal leads, fringe parties cautioned him on Sunday that dialogue could be a strategy of the ruling parties to weaken their street agitation.

Cross-party talks began on Saturday after a hiatus of six weeks with the top four forces agreeing to decide the contentious issues of constitution writing through consensus.

Leaders of the parties opposed to the majority process of constitution writing urged the Maoist leader not to adopt “unnecessary flexibility” on the disputed issues of the constitution writing process.

The meeting concluded that CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli’s absence from Saturday’s dialogue demonstrates “a lack of sincerity on part of the ruling parties to draft the new statute on the basis of consensus”.

Preliminary talks between the ruling and opposition parties on Saturday entrusted top leaders of the four major political forces to seek a compromise on the contentious issues.

According to opposition leaders, the Nepali Congress appears positive about writing a new national charter in consensus while the UML continues to be rigid.

When Dahal briefed the bloc that wrapped up its first phase of agitation recently about the ongoing discussions, the allies advised him not to be too optimistic.

Dahal reported that he found Prime Minister Sushil Koirala in particular responsive to the opposition demands. Dahal stressed that the opposition front should engage in talks for the next few days as they seemed promising.

“If there is no consensus within a couple of days, we should unveil the second phase of street protest,” Dahal told the meeting. Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar urged Dahal and other parties to maintain calm and be part of the negotiations. He was of the view that the parties should not spoil the atmosphere for talks with provocative moves.  The opposition front on Sunday formally decided to attend the meetings of parliamentary committees. On Saturday, the UCPN (Maoist) had decided to send lawmakers to sessions of the House committees.

“We have requested the ruling parties to demonstrate utmost flexibility on the contentious issues,” said Prem Bahadur Singh, spokesman for the 30-party alliance.