Miscellaneous
Big Three leaders to discuss Madhesi preconditions
Top leaders of three major political parties are meeting on Friday morning to discuss the preconditions put forward by Madhesi parties for negotiations.Anil Giri
Top leaders of three major political parties are meeting on Friday morning to discuss the preconditions put forward by Madhesi parties for negotiations. While it is unclear yet if the parties would postpone the current constitution drafting, a top political source suggested that Nepal Army recall—a key precondition of the agitating parties—could be on the cards.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala is under increasing pressure to halt the constitution drafting process at least for three days even as his coalition partner CPN-UML stands opposed to the idea.
“I told PM to halt the process at least for a week,” said Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Management Bimalendra Nidhi, a key Madhesi leader in the Nepali Congress. “PM is positive and would raise the issue of postponing the process on Friday,” he said.
NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel, speaking in the CA, suggested that his party might be flexible on postponing the constitution drafting process if the agitating parties agreed to take part in negotiations.
In a bid to bring the agitating parties on board the constitution process for early promulgation of charter in the face of violent protests in Tarai, the NC, CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) have renewed their call for talks. Differences, however, persist among them over putting the constituent process on a halt as demanded by the protesting forces.If the parties fail to postpone the process on Friday morning, voting would start on the draft amendment in the CA. The UCPN (Maoist) is also in favour of a short pause in the constitution drafting process in order to accommodate the disgruntled parties.
“We will propose to stop the process for a few days in the three-party meeting. We can address the demands of Madhesi and Tharu communities even if the agitating parties do not come to the negotiating table,” said senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, adding that his party is in favour of recalling the Army.
Earlier on Wednesday, PM Koirala had proposed to pause the current CA process. But the CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli objected to the idea, arguing that it would complicate the problem further without yielding any results.
“So far, UML has unanimous views on promulgating the new constitution. It should not be prolonged under any pretext,” said UML Deputy General Secretary Ghanshyam Bhusal.