KATHMANDU, Sept 29: The Central Committee of the UCPN (Maoist) met informally on to assess the existing political situation and set agenda for the upcoming meeting of the party’s Standing Committee meeting, a leader said.
“We have agreed to show maximum flexibility,” senior leader Narayan Kaji Shhrestha told myrepublica.com after the meeting that was held at their party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal´s residence in the capital. [break]
When asked what that “flexibility” was, Shrestha said the Maoists are even ready to “completely change” their resolution motion against the president registered at the Parliament Secretariat which most other parties have rejected. “We are ready to table a new, joint resolution if other parties agree,” he explained. “However, the bottom-line is that the president’s move should be touched upon in some form.”
The Maoists, so far, have been saying that either their motion be discussed in the parliament or the provision on the president’s power in the Interim Constitution be amended to define it. The Maoists want the president’s powers reduced.
The party feels that the president acted in “autocratic” manner when, in the first week of May, he blocked the Maoist government’s move to dismiss the last army chief Rookmangud Katawal (who retired earlier this month). Dahal, whose government was reduced to a minority status after the cabinet decision to sack Katawal, resigned on May 4. Since then, the Maoists have launched a series of protest programs, both in the parliament and outside.
Shrestha further said that the Maoists would plan their next move depending on how the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) responded to the Maoist overtures.
Dr Baburam Bhattarai earlier told AvenuesTV channel that there would be agreement after CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath returns from Kazakhstan.
The Maoist meeting comes close on the heels of a meeting between NC President Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist Chairman Dahal. The two leaders, on Sunday, agreed to end political deadlock through consensus. The two leaders also agreed, Dahal had said, that they would not seek any foreign country’s involvement to resolve their differences.
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