Party insiders say there were at least two reasons why Dahal wanted to quit -- 1) the responsibilities of the sub-committee coordinator demanded flexibility on his part, something that was increasingly being interpreted by party hardliners as compromising the party´s vital stances, and 2) He wanted to avoid possible blame if the constitution wasn´t written on time. [break]
The hardline faction led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, according to a senior Maoist leader, is unhappy with the compromises Dahal has made so far. "The Baidya faction has criticized those compromises as capitulating to the NC and UML plan of maintaining the status quo in society," he said.
It´s true that Dahal has demonstrated flexibility at the negotiating table and has given in to the reasonable arguments made by NC and UML members even if they were against his party´s line.
"Dahal is very flexible and easy to talk to," says NC CA member Ramesh Lekhak.
Since Dahal first became coordinator of the taskforce formed to settle disputes over constitution drafting in October, it brought down the number of disputed constitutional issues from 210 to 75. And the sub-committee led by Dahal again narrowed them down to 37.
Dahal gave in to the demand for ´judicially independence´ and constitutional checks and balance, as put forward by the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML.
Stepping back from their stance that the chief justice (CJ) should be appointed by parliament, the Maoists also agreed that the appointment of the CJ would be by a constitutional committee headed by the executive head, and that a constitutional court would be vested with the powers of final interpretation of the constitution.
Similarly, the party also agreed on a bicameral legislature, as demanded by the NC and UML. The Maoist party also agreed to maintain the current national flag.
But with this compromise Dahal was fast alienating the radical camp in his party which has all along argued the need for a "revolt". And Dahal has found himself in an akward situation since peace and constitution are in fact the lines championed by his rival in the Maoist party, Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai.
Dahal´s and Baidya´s official line was to prepare the ground for urban insurrection.
A Maoist leader close to Dahal said that he has lately seemed less optimistic about the possibility of the constitution being written and promulgated in time. "He was being blamed for the compromises from within the party and if the constitution wasn´t written in time he would be blamed by outsiders for the failure."
So it seems Dahal felt caught between the devil and the deep blue sea and wanted to get out of that fix.
But the meeting of party office bearers on Wednesday decided to continue with Dahal as coordinator of the sub-committee.
"We decided that our chairman should continue as the coordinator since others were spreading rumors that our party was quiting constitution-drafting altogether," said Maoist Secretary C P Gajurel.
But this doesn´t end Dahal´s dilemma.
Should he make more compromises to ensure that the constitution is written in time or should he take a hard stance that can potentially derail the constitution-writing process?
Related story
Panel discussion begins in JSP Statute Convention
-1776353206.webp)
