"Today´s meeting has been postponed as the presence of the CA members is very low due to Nepal banda [general strike]," said a notice put on the wall at the CA hall. This is the first time that the CA meeting has been postponed for any reason.
Earlier, Maoist leaders had requested CA Chairman Subas Nembang and chief whips of other parties to postpone the meeting. But they were not ready to defer it on the ground of the general strike called by the main opposition party.
They had requested Nembang to postpone the meeting saying that the CA members would be unable to attend the meeting due to the strike. "No I can´t postpone the meeting. I must be there at the scheduled time and I will be there," a source quoted Nembang as telling the Maoist leaders.
Nembang announced the postponement of the meeting after only four CA members showed up for the meeting, said an official at the CA secretariat.
Maoist Chief Whip Post Bahadur Bogati had also requested other party leaders to postpone the meeting but the Maoist demand was turned down. "He [Bogati] had requested us to postpone the meeting but we didn´t accept it," said Nepali Congress Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire. He termed the postponement an unfortunate incident to say the least. "It is very sad that the CA has been postponed for the first time," Ghimire said.
The 601-member CA is currently holding deliberations on the preliminary draft report and concept paper prepared by the CA committee on natural resources, financial rights and revenue sharing.
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