“We decided to pass the current amendment bill as it is, but agreed to formulate terms of reference (T0R) that allow the expert panel to consider suggestions made at CA meetings, provisions in the current constitution and the decisions as well as notes of dissent in the report of the CA State Restructuring Committee,” said NC Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire, who participated in the meeting. [break]
The bill could not be endorsed on Tuesday as some lawmakers from the Janajati caucus cried foul, saying the proposed expert panel in the bill should not have the right to trample on the decisions of the CA State Restructuring Committee, which has already passed a 14-state ethnicity-based federal model.
The bill is scheduled to be presented for final approval on Friday.
While the NC has already issued a whip in favor of the bill, the Maoists and the UML stated that they would talk to the Janajati lawmakers of their respective parties.
“We are close to consensus. We will hold talks with the Janajati lawmakers of the respective parties in the morning and persuade them to vote for the amendment bill,” said UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya. He said that his party also has issued a whip in favor of the bill, and expressed hope the bill would be endorsed on Friday.
But lawmakers from the Janajati caucus have said that they would even defy party whips if the bill is tabled without addressing their demands.
“We are strongly against forming a panel if it means trashing the report of the state restructuring committee,” said UML lawmaker Prithvi Subba Gurung, who has signed an amendment proposal against the government bill.
The Janajati lawmakers have proposed that the jurisdiction of the panel should be limited to “assisting with the recommendations of the report prepared by the CA Committee on State Restructuring and Distribution of State Powers.”
The hard-line faction led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya has also strongly opposed the bill.
“We are not against the formation of an expert panel, but it should not trample upon the decisions of the CA state restructuring committee,” said Maoist lawmaker Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, who is close to Baidya.
The Maoist party also held a parliamentary board meeting on Thursday, during which the radical faction opposed the bill.
The party is holding a meeting of the parliamentary board at 11 a.m. Friday also to settle the issue.
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