The differences surfaced yet again after UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal reiterated on Friday during his meeting with NC President Sushil Koirala that the former will not accept NC´s leading the election government saying that the political context has changed. [break]
However, NC leaders maintained that they should lead the new government as both the UCPN (Maoist) and CPN-UML have already led the government twice after the 2008 CA elections.
According to UCPN (Maoist) spokesman Agni Sapkota, Chairman Dahal proposed making a new start in discussions on the government leadership as there has been no implementation of the five-point deal under which NC was to get new government leadership. "Had the constitution been promulgated as per the past agreement, we could have agreed to NC´s leading the election government," he said.
"New situation has emerged so we cannot accept NC´s leading the new government. We proposed holding new discussions on the government leadership," he further said.
On the occasion, NC maintained that it would not be natural for both the Maoists and the UML to stake claim to the leadership of new government. "NC has asked us to allow them to lead the new government. They proposed forging consensus on election-related issues," added Sapkota.
According to NC Vice President Ram Chandra Paudel, they also discussed ways to resolve the legal and constitutional difficulties for holding elections. "Though we held discussions on several issues, there was no agreement on any of the issues," he said after the meeting.
Maoists had proposed forging a package deal on all issues including constitution, new government and election. "We are very serious toward resolving the political problems. We have reached an understanding to resolve all the issues by mid-October," Maoist Chairman Dahal told the media after the meeting.
At the meeting the UCPN (Maoist) was represented by Chairman Dahal and the party´s spokesman Sapkota and Nepali Congress by its President Sushil Koirala, Vice-president Paudel and General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula. The Dahal-Koirala meeting took place a day after Dahal´s meeting with President Ram Baran Yadav, who is learnt to have urged Dahal to work proactively to resolve the deadlock.
In their recent meeting with the president, all parties including the UCPN (Maoist), NC and the UML had promised to resolve the political deadlock by mid-October. Also, Dahal is reportedly planning to meet CPN-UML chief Jhalanath Khanal soon.
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