The CA meeting scheduled for 1 pm Monday will pass a condolence motion on the untimely demise of UML politburo member Ram Nath Dhakal, who was also a Constituent Assembly (CA) member and chairman of the State Affairs Committee (SAC) of parliament, before being put off for at least a week.
CA Chairman Nembang on March 29 had called the meeting for Monday as there were no signs of consensus between the major parties.Nembang on February 12 had deferred the CA plenary until further notice on the request of a group of civil society leaders to help parties reach consensus on disputed issues in statute writing.
Civil society leaders, including Charan Prasai, Dinesh Tripathi, Baburam Giri, Sharmila Karki, among others, had reached the office of CA Chairman Nembang on Sunday to inform that their efforts to help parties reach consensus had failed. "We are sorry to tell you that we failed to convince leaders to reach an agreement on disputed issues. Although leaders had pledged to reach consensus within two-three days, they failed to live up to their promise," they had told Nembang.
Although second-rung leaders have intensified internal negotiations, political parties are still nowhere near agreement on disputed issues in constitution writing. Leaders of the main opposition UCPN (Maoist) on Sunday called on Nembang and urged him not to move ahead with the majority-based process.
At a meeting with opposition party leaders on Sunday, Nembang urged them to withdraw their protest programs that include three-day general strike starting Tuesday to create conducive environment for talks. UCPN (Maoist) General Secretary Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and Shakti Basnet had reached Nembang's office.
Meanwhile, the ruling UML has come up with a new proposal to form a suggestion committee within the CA to resolve disputes regarding the issue of federalism. "Federalism has appeared as the most contentious issue in constitution writing. Therefore, we have proposed forming a suggestion committee tasked with resolving the dispute regarding federalism within 20 days. The CA should take decision on the remaining other issues," said UML leader Surendra Pandey.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has also expedited consultation with leaders from various parties. While he held meeting with Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) Chairman Kamal Thapa in Baluwatar on Sunday morning, the prime minister also held talks with UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the evening.
RPP-N Chairman Thapa has suggested Prime Minister Koirala to put off the CA meeting for another one week to hold serious negotiations with the opposition leaders. Koirala is also scheduled to hold discussion with the other opposition party leaders for consensus.
The 30-party alliance has announced not only to boycott events to be attended by prime minister and ministers but also to obstruct them from attending public functions and greet him with black flags. The opposition parties have been boycotting the CA meetings since January 25 after Nembang announced formation of CA's questionnaire committee amid protest. The committee has already prepared a list of questionnaires and laid the ground for deciding the contentious issues through majority votes in the CA plenary.
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