Dahal held separate talks with NC President Sushil Koirala, UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on Saturday.[break]
Dahal proposed that his party was ready to accept NC leadership of a new government if the NC is ready to revive the Constituent Assembly (CA) for the purpose of promulgating a new constitution. In his second option, Dahal proposed to other parties to join a Baburam Bhattarai-headed election government if the opposition parties are going to stick to the option of fresh elections.
But all three leaders -- Koirala, Khanal and Nepal -- turned down both of Dahal´s proposals.
"I rejected both of his proposals because this is not the time to discuss CA revival. And we can´t even imagine joining a government led by Baburam Bhattarai," Nepal told Republica.
Nepal, who called on President Ram Baran Yadav later in the day, told him that his party wouldn´t accept any proposal to prolong the present government´s stay in power for even a couple of days, under any pretext.
He said that the country is going to face a serious constitutional as well as financial crisis due to lack of an annual budget but his party wouldn´t relent in its stance against the present coalition. "I made it clear before the president that it has become urgent to take serious initiatives toward forming a consensus government because we are completely against giving continuity to the present government even for a couple of days," said former prime minister Nepal.
UML Chairman Khanal also turned down Dahal´s proposal and insisted that they would enter into discussions on options only after the present government´s exit and the formation of a consensus-based government. "He has floated two options-- reviving the CA or going for fresh elections," Khanal told Republica, "But I told him that we can discuss the options only after the present government´s exit and formation of a new government."
Khanal said he didn´t find anything new in Dahal´s proposal. "The only new thing in today´s proposal is that this time it is in writing," he said. "May be this time he came up with a written document in a bid to convince us that he wouldn´t flip-flop in the days to come."
Dahal also failed to impress NC President Koirala. The NC chief has smelt a rat in Dahal offering NC the government leadership if the CA is revived. He claimed that the motive is to get the NC into trouble. "So, I rejected both his proposals to revive the CA or to join the Baburam Bhattarai-headed government," Koirala told reporters at his residence after his meeting with Dahal. "Prachandaji [Dahal] himself told me that Jhalanathji and Madhav Nepalji have already turned down his proposals and I don´t see any point in the NC accepting it either."
The main opposition NC has been divided over the proposal for reviving the CA. While a section of party leaders led by Koirala is firmly against the revival option, a group including former primer minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and party Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel are lobbying for reinstating the CA that saw its demise on May 27 without having produced a new constitution.
However, Dahal said he was optimistic over the major parties finding common ground somewhere around his proposals in the next couple of weeks.
He endorsed the proposals at a meeting of office bearers of his party earlier on Saturday morning before he held a series of talks with NC and UML leaders.
Dahal intensified his parleys with other parties a day after he informed President Ram Baran Yadav about his proposals. The president had suggested to Dahal to get the support of other parties for his ideas.
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