KATHMANDU, June 15: Expressing strong reservations over the government announcing the date for fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, various agitating parties including the CPN-Maoist have challenged it to hold the poll without their consensus. [break]
CPN-Maoist leader Dev Gurung said that the four-party syndicate government was unconstitutional and impractical. “The Baburam Bhattarai-led previous government had no constitutional authority to dissolve the CA” he said. He challenged the present government to hold fresh CA elections. He said, “We are ready to disrupt the process at any cost and will not let the government to hold CA the poll”.
Gurung claimed that announcing the poll date was meaningless. He suggested to the government to hold a dialogue with the agitating parties before going for the elections. “The date for fresh CA polls has been announced under the direction of the international community”, he said.
Chairman of the National Madhes Socialist Party Sharat Singh Bhandari maintained that from the very beginning they had felt disquiet over the formation of the government. He said, “No political consensus was reached on forming the electoral government”. He accused the government of not being serious towards the demands of the Federal Democratic Alliance. He said, “We have called tomorrow´s banda just to make the government aware of our demands”.
However, the ruling parties are confident of holding the CA poll. UCPN (Maoist) leader Barshman Pun has said that the announcement of the CA poll date was welcome. Speaking at the Reporters Club here, Pun said, “We appeal to the agitating parties to participate in the CA election”.
Pun ruled out the possibility of the upcoming CA poll being disrupted by the agitating parties. He said the government was all set to hold the poll on November 19, adding, “The Baidya-led CPN-Maoist will suffer if it does not participate in the poll”.
“India had no role in announcing the poll date,”he claimed.
CPN (UML) leader Raghuji Pant asserted that the fresh CA poll would be held on November 19. Panta said, “The international community is influencing Nepal´s internal affairs and unless such influence evaporates the constitution drafting process could not be completed”.
Nepali Congress leader Minendra Rijal said that the Baidya-led 42 agitating parties were attacking the democratic process. “Ignoring the CA would definitely harm Baidya and his supporters”, he said.
Rijal clarified that except for the Biadya-led party, the other parties were likely to participate in the CA poll. “We request the Baidya-led alliance to sit for talks so as to hold the CA election”, he added.