Stating that constitution won't be acceptable if it is promulgated through majority-based process from the Constituent Assembly (CA) and without forging consensus with the opposition, Bhattarai said that a middle way can be found between the majority-process and the street protest. He was speaking at an interaction in Pokhara on Friday.
"We are for a middle way solution for ending the standoff. Although we are very close to agreement on the contentious issues of the constitution, a few things remain to to resolved," said Bhattarai.
Stating that a solution is possible by granting joint identity to two or more contiguous provinces, Bhattarai informed that the UCPN (Maoist) is flexible on the number of provinces. He accused ruling parties of rejecting their proposal of merging two or more contiguous provinces.
He was of the view that a progressive constitution cannot be promulgated without consensus among major parties. "There is dispute between the mandate of the revolution and the mandate of the election, and the constitution will be unacceptable if it is promulgated without resolving the dispute through a new agreement," said Bhattarai.
Bhattarai further reiterated that UCPN (Maoist) is not ready to quit its agenda of federalism, inclusiveness and proportional representation.
Bhattarai argued that protest is not their choice but a compulsion. "We don't want people to suffer the impact of strikes, but the ruling parties do not understand any other language," said Bhattarai. He further said that they will continue protests until there is consensus with the ruling parties.
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