Govt will collapse if seven-point deal scrapped: Gurung

HONG KONG, March 20: UCPN (Maoist) Standing Committee member Dev Gurung warned on Sunday that the current government would collapse if the seven-point deal reached between the CPN-UML and the Maoist was scrapped in order to bring Nepali Congress (NC) on board the government.



Gurung said so while addressing the general convention of the Maoist-affiliated Nepali Janasarokar Samaj and Tamu Mukti Morcha on Sunday in Hong Kong. Gurung was accompanied by Maoist central member Hit Kaji Gurung and the party´s foreign relations department member Manoj Thapa.[break]

 

Gurung, who is considered hardliner in the party, ruled out any possibility of a compromise on the controversial deal reached hours before the election of Jhalanath Khanal as prime minister. His remark comes in the wake of some UML leaders´ comments that they would be willing to scrap the deal if the NC agrees to join the government.



“The government can not put the seven-point deal on backburner since the deal is the foundation on which it stands,” Gurung told Republica. “The seven-point deal should not be considered an obstruction for bringing Nepali Congress to the government.”



Gurung, after holding the second round of talks with the UML, said the cabinet will be given full shape ´soon´. “We have also reached an agreement with the UML on the issue of home ministry during the second round of talks,” said Gurung who has been lobbying strongly to secure Home Ministry for the Maoists.



Gurung said two of the most controversial issues in the seven-point deal: formation of a separate security agency for Maoist combatants and the Maoists and CPN-UML leading the government on rotational basis, have already been discussed with NC at three-party meetings.



Meanwhile, he lauded the relationship Nepal and China share but came down heavily on India for continuing to impose hegemony over Nepal. “The relationship between Nepal and China is based on mutual understanding in conformity with the UN Charter. But India has been breaching the UN Charter, interfering even in Nepal´s constitution drafting and peace process,” he said.



“The reins of Narayanhiti [former royal palace] that was supposed to reach Singha Durbar have instead reached Delhi,” he said, adding: “Just as the 12-point understanding transformed our country into a republic, the seven-point deal will make it sovereign.”

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