Maoists reject govt proposal on State Restructuring Commission

KATHMANDU, June 27: The three-party meeting held on Sunday ended inconclusively after the UCPN (Maoist) rejected the proposal of the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML to constitute a State Restructuring Commission. The meeting was called on the initiative of Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subas Nembang.



The Maoists rejected the proposal arguing that the commission cannot be formed until Prime Minister Madhav Nepal steps down as per the May 28 deal. [break]



According to UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya, NC and UML leaders emphasized the need for forming the commission stating that it was one of the major tasks to be undertaken before drafting the new constitution.



“We proposed to form the commission at the earliest,” said Acharya. “But the Maoist leaders argued that the commission should be formed only after ending the current political deadlock.”



The Maoists maintained that Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal must step down to pave way for the formation of a national consensus government.



The leaders of the three parties then agreed to take both the issues of the formation of new government and formation of the commission simultaneously. “We will do necessary homework before sitting for the next round of talks on Thursday,” added Acharya.



The three-party meeting aimed at finding ways to settle contentious issues that have surfaced while the preparing the preliminary draft reports.



Though all the eleven thematic committees have prepared preliminary drafts, only three have so far been forwarded to the Constitutional Committee (CC) that is entrusted with preparing an integrated draft report.



The parties have failed to decide whether to adopt presidential or prime ministerial system, bicameral of unicameral parliament, type of electoral system, and the model of federalism, among several other issues.



Maoists chief whip Post Bahadur Bogati, leader Dev Gurung and Ek Raj Bhandari; NC Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel, chief whip Laxman Ghimire, leaders Dr Ram Sharan Mahat and Radhe Shyam Adhikari; and UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, chief whip Bhim Acharya and leaders Bharat Mohan Adhikari and Agni Kharel attended the meeting.



However, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha did not attend the meeting citing health reasons.

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