Big 3 parties back to consensus course

Unanimously decide to send agreed issues of new statute to CA Drafting Committee

KATHMANDU, April 21 : In a major development, the big three political parties -- Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist)--have unanimously decided to forward the agreed-upon issues of the new constitution to the Constituent Assembly (CA) Drafting Committee to prepare a draft of the new constitution.

The agreement, reached during a three-party meeting held at the official residence of Prime Minister Sushil Koirala at Baluwatar Monday morning, not only marks the resumption of the stalled constitution drafting process after three months, but also signals the beginnings of consensus politics.

Although the ruling NC and CPN-UML had earlier decided to forward the agreed-upon issues of the new statute to the Drafting Committee to expedite the constitution-drafting process, this had not been possible as the main opposition UCPN (Maoist) expressed strong reservations.

UCPN (Maoist) Vice-Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said they have decided to continue negotiations till April 23 to arrive at consensus on all issues including federalism. "It would be so much better if we could reach agreement on all issues including federalism. But in case we fail to agree on federalism, we have decided to reach some agreement on what to do about this while at the same time forwarding the agreed-upon issues to the Drafting Committee," he said.

The three-party meeting has entrusted NC Vice-Chairman Ram Chandra Paudel, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal with responsibility for reaching agreement on those issues. They will work to settle the remaining issues of system of governance, judiciary and electoral system and find a way out of the federalism dispute before the CA meeting convenes on April 23.

Party insiders say the three major parties are likely to form a separate commission to settle disputes over the five districts in the southern plains. "There are various alternatives floated to settle the disputes seen over those districts. If there is no agreement, the top three leaders of NC, UML and the Maoists will decide what alternative to adopt by April 23," said Maoist Vice-Chairman Shrestha.

Monday's political development has made everybody cautiously optimistic about a political course based on consensus and early promulgation of the new statute. "Politics has now returned to a consensus course. There has been an understanding among parties to move ahead in consensus," said Minister for Law and Justice Narahari Acharya, who is also a key NC interlocutor in inter-party negotiations.

The three major parties have decided to seek consensus on the proposal floated by Madhesi People's Rights Forum (Democratic) Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar on January 19. They had reached informal agreement that the Maoist would accept with reservations the NC-UML proposal on form of governance.

Likewise, all three parties had agreed to go for a mixed electoral system, maintain a constitutional court for 10 years and settle issues related to federalism through inter-party negotiations. But as the Maoists, who head the 30-party opposition alliance, could not convince others in the alliance -- mainly the Madhes-based parties -- the agreement could not materialize.

Subsequently, the opposition alliance had taken to the streets as the ruling parties pushed for the formation of the Questionnaire Committee in the CA for settling disputed issues through voting if there was no agreement.