KATHMANDU, Aug 11: CPN-Maoist Chairman Mohan Baidya said on Sunday that his party is ready for both dialogue and elections boycott.
"We are prepared for both dialogue and election disruption," said Baidya at a function organized by Federal Socialist Party Nepal (FSP-N) in Kathmandu.Baidya leads the alliance of a group of fringe political parties that have announced to boycott the elections conducted by the present government. The alliance says that formation of the government under the leadership of sitting chief justice is unconstitutional and against the basic principle of separation of powers.[break]
"A government headed and represented by political parties should be formed and an all-party roundtable should be convened to discuss and determine the fundamental features of the new constitution," Baidya explained. "Otherwise, there is no point in participating in the elections."
He accused the constituent parties of the High-Level Political Committee (HLPC) -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) -- of sidelining other political forces including his own party.
Claiming that the election scheduled for November 19 can be deferred for the sake of forging consensus among all the political parties, Baidya said, "The HLPC constituent parties are making a hue and cry of the polls date but the sky will not fall even if the polls date is deferred."
Addressing the same function, FSP-N Chairman Ashok Rai underscored the need for dissolving the HLPC and forming an all-party mechanism. "There should be no less than 601 members in the new CA and the election process should be taken ahead only after bringing all the agitating parties to agreement," said Rai.
He accused the HLPC constituent parties of imposing their decisions on other political forces.
"They claim themselves to be the major political parties on the basis of their strength in the former CA. But 91 former CA members have already quit the UCPN (Maoist) and formed CPN-Maoist. Similarly, 20 CA members have already quit the UML. Similar is the case with several Madhes parties," he said.
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