Leaders from the major political parties stuck to their stance that the CA elections must be held on November 19 by the present chief justice-led government while the agitating CPN-Maoist leaders insisted on Regmi"s resignation as CJ. In the latest round of talks, the agitating Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist said it can compromise on the election date.[break]
Leaders from the constituent parties of the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and the United Democratic Madhesi Front -- urged agitating Maoist party leaders not to insist on making any changes in the government anymore or demand poll deferral. They said the HLPC parties are ready to address some other demands of the agitating parties.
However, Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist leaders said that their primary demand is resignation of Regmi from the post of chief justice.
´Our main concern is to make Regmi resign from the post of chief justice. If other parties are ready for this then we can compromise on the poll date,´ CPN-Maoist Secretary Dev Gurung told reporters while emerging from the nine-hour-long meeting held at the president"s office on Sunday. ´We are ready to consider the poll date on practical aspects.´
Leaders from HLPC parties tried to convince the agitating Maoist leaders to participate in the election to be conducted by the present government on November 19. They said they are ready to address their other demands.
´We requested them not to insist on making changes in the government and poll date. We are ready to address other issues,´ said NC Vice-President Ram Chandra Paudel.
According to him, the HLPC is for requesting the Election Commission to make an arrangement for including CPN-Maoist in the election process.
Paudel said the major parties are ready to convene a roundtable conference and give it some mandate to take decisions on the contents of the new constitution as demanded by the Baidya-led Maoist party.
´We are for making the roundtable an effective body by giving it a mandate to endorse the political decisions,´ said Paudel. ´Similarly, we are for forming a taskforce that would work on the contents of the new constitution as demanded by Baidyaji.´
The HLPC parties have also asked the agitating Maoist party to join the HLPC saying that they are ready to reconstitute and/or rename the body on the basis of mutual understanding among the parties.
´We are ready to make some clear commitments to create ground for producing a new constitution from the new CA,´ he further explained. According to him, the HLPC"s constituent parties also expressed commitment to own up the decisions of the dissolved CA.
Meanwhile, Gurung said the commitments made by other parties about making the roundtable an effective body was a welcome development. He, however, claimed that it was a secondary issue and their main concern was resignation of Regmi as chiej justice.
CPN-UML leader Raghuji Pant added that they can"t enter the agenda of Regmi"s resignation as CJ because the agitating Maoist leaders have not yet made clear commitment to participate in the November elections.
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