The subcommittee had earlier decided to retain the name Legislature-Parliament in the new constitution and to name the lower house as the House of Representatives but the proposals regarding them were turned down when tabled for endorsement at the yesterday´s CC meeting. [break]
Similarly, a proposal to grant suffrage to all Nepali citizens above 18 years, too, couldn´t be endorsed due to objection from the CC members.
Nepali Congress (NC) parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel said the three "very ordinary" proposals couldn´t be endorsed due to objection from the Maoist lawmakers.
Paudel said it was very unusual to see the Maoist lawmakers object the proposals because the disputes on the issues were already resolved in the subcommittee, which is headed by UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
"The proposals couldn´t be endorsed at today´s (Monday) meeting due to objection from Maoist lawmakers. Therefore, we have urged Prachandaji (Dahal) to first put his own house in order so that the agreements reached with other political parties can be implemented," Paudel told reporters after the CC meeting at held at Singha Durbar.
Maoist lawmakers, including Mahendra Paswan, Padam Bahadur Rai and Jaypuri Gharti Magar, who are from the Maoist hardline faction, demanded that the lower house be named as People´s House of Representatives. Likewise, UCPN (Ekikrit) lawmaker Pari Thapa, who is close to Maoist party on several agenda, insisted on naming the parliament as Federal Legislature Parliament. But Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Janamorcha objected adding the adjective ´federal´.
Maoist CC member Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma refuted Paudel´s allegations against the Maoists. He said the intra-party feud in the Maoist party has nothing to do with the disputes in constitution writing.
"No one should feel terrified by the active participation of CC members´ in the deliberations over the proposals tabled on behalf of the subcommittee," said Bishwakarma.
Uncertainty over future of subcommittee
Paudel also said that uncertainty hangs over the future of the subcommittee as Maoist lawmakers have raised question about its legitimacy.
"We must first decide whether or not to extend the term of the subcommittee because the Maoist CC members have raised question over its legitimacy," Paudel said. "We can enter into thorny issues such as the system of governance only after resolving the row over subcommittee."
Paudel made it clear that the NC is for giving continuity to the subcommittee.
Maoist Chief Whip Dev Gurung, a key leader of the Maoist hardline faction, had proposed dissolution of the subcommittee at a CC meeting on Saturday.
Former Prime Ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal, both from CPN-UML, NC parliamentary party leader Paudel, among other key leaders, are members on the Dahal-headed subcommittee.
The CC, which is mandated to prepare the integrated draft of the new constitution, entrusted the dispute resolution subcommittee with the task of settling the unresolved matters in constitution writing.
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