Addressing an inaugural session of the 38th annual general meeting and 13th general convention of Gorkha Chamber of Commerce and Industries, the prime minister blamed the NC for stalling the peace and constitution drafting process. [break]
"There are enough grounds to have consensus on this issue among parties. But the Nepali Congress, with its traditional mindset, has caused hindrance in the constitution drafting process," he added.
The prime minister further said various Madhes-based parties have already supported the idea of presidential system and even the CPN-UML has expressed willingness to adopt the system.
"It is an old Maoists stance to adopt presidential system for stability," Bhattarai said. "There had been agreement to adopt presidential system even before Constituent Assembly election. No one should put unnecessary conditions to derail the peace and constitution drafting process."
Brushing aside public threats issued by various senior Maoist leaders including Janardan Sharma to halt all works related to the peace process if the NC failed to agree on presidential system, the prime minister said that his party, UCPN (Maoist) would not put any conditions on issues related to the peace process and drafting of the new constitution.
In justification of the presidential system, Bhattarai said, "We are trying to introduce a stable system of governance as no government has been able to work for a complete five-year term under the current parliamentary system, which has only invited instability in the country."
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