Saturday, June 9, 2012

Bhattarai must quit to pave way for a national unity government

KATHMANDU, June 9, 2012

Nepal\'s opposition parties have launched a 'movement\' seeking Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai\'s resignation to pave the way for a 'national unity government\'. Speaking at a mass gathering in the capital on Friday, the parties — which included the Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), and Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) — accused the Maoists of 'dissolving\' the Constituent Assembly (CA) and conspiring to 'capture power\'.



Describing the events of May 27, NC senior leader and former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba said most constitutional issues except federalism had been resolved. "The Madhesi parties demanded two provinces in the Tarai, while we said three districts in the east should be a separate province and two districts in the far west should be with the hill province."



Opposing the Maoist projection of NC as an 'anti Janjati (ethnic)\' party, he emphasised that NC only wanted mixed identity provinces. Mr Deuba said he had pushed for declaration of emergency for 'five-ten days\' as a way to extend the CA term to resolve the federalism issue. "The Maoists first accepted it and then rejected it. They then declared elections without consulting us. Those who created this problem must step down. The PM should resign."



Another former PM, and UML senior leader, Madhav Kumar Nepal, said the entire constitutional process for the past four years had taken place in the 'shadow of the Maoist gun\'. He said the Maoists orchestrated the agitation of ethnic communities in mid-May, with the intention of derailing the political consensus. 'The present PM broke the national unity, and there is no chance of forming a unity government under him. So he should resign."



Mr Nepal then presented six options that could be discussed to resolve the crisis — fresh elections for a new CA, referendum, a constitution by a commission, elections for a Parliament which works as a CA in the first month, a roundtable conference or reinstatement of the expired CA.



Leaders at the gathering said since the Maoists realised the CA would throw up a 'democratic constitution\', they decided to dissolve it altogether to stay on in power. "But this will fail. Nepali people fought the Ranas, Panchayat regime, and then Gyanendra. Now it is the turn of the Maoists to go," said NC president Sushil Koirala.



The Maoists and their ally, the Madhesi parties, have a different interpretation of events. In an exclusive interview to The Hindu last week, Mr. Bhattarai had said the 'core issue\' was NC and UML wanted a constitution without federalism which the Maoists, Madhesis and Janjatis were not willing to accept. He also said while he proposed declaring emergency to extend the CA\'s term, the other parties — except Mr. Deuba — had not supported it.



While NC and UML had claimed over 100,000 people would attend Friday\'s mass gathering, the turnout was between two and four thousand according to most estimates.
News From: http://www.7StarNews.com

No comments:

 
eXTReMe Tracker