During a meeting called by Prime Minister Madhav Nepal at his residence on Sunday morning, the ruling partners asked the prime minister to pave way for the formation of national consensus government after a package deal with the Maoists. [break]
They maintained that the parties must forge consensus on various issues related to peace process including the management of the Maoist combatants and on the name of the person to lead the proposed national consensus government before the prime minister steps down.
According to CPN-ML Chairman CP Mainali, small parties attending the meeting asked the NC and UML leaderships to take a decision on prime minister´s resignation only after the Maoists demonstrate their commitment in action in regard to the management of Maoist combatants, return of the seized properties, disband paramilitary structure of the Young Communist League and implement all past agreements.
In the meeting, the prime minister apprised the leaders about the three-point deal reached on Friday and reiterated that he is ready to abide by any decision made on consensus by the three parties.
According to Mainali, the prime minister expressed ignorance about the deal for his resignation within five days. "I am ready to abide by the decision made by three parties on consensus. But I am not aware about the agreement that I should step down within five days," the prime minister said. He accused the Maoists of misinterpreting the deal.
Small parties unhappy
Meanwhile, during an afternoon meeting of 19 parties supporting the current government, the small parties expressed dissatisfaction over the failure of the NC and UML to take them into confidence while reaching the three-point deal with the Maoists.
In a meeting at PMO, the small parties expressed objection to the deal on grounds that they were not consulted by the NC and UML, according to Chandra Dev Joshi, Chairman of CPN-United.
After the meeting, Rastriya Janashakti Party Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa said they asked the NC and UML to clarify if they had reached tacit agreements on other issues with the Maoists in the three-point deal. "We asked whether the deal included other issues concerning the nation and the people," he said.
NC men seek lead role in peace
Nepali Congress (NC) lawmakers on Sunday urged the party to take a lead role to take the ongoing peace process to a logical end and institutionalize democracy in the country.
During the party´s parliamentary meeting at Singha Durbar, the lawmakers suggested the party leadership to be ready to head the proposed national consensus government if needed as both UCPN (Maoists) and CPN-UML have already failed to take the peace process to a logical end.
The meeting was called to apprise party lawmakers of the three-point deal reached with the Maoists and formulate future strategy of the party on constitution drafting and peace process. The meeting decided to fully utilize the extended tenure of the CA to accomplish both the tasks of promulgating new constitution and peace process.
Talking to media after the meeting, NC Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel said the meeting concluded that national consensus government could not be formed by keeping aside the issues related to the peace process and constitution drafting.
He argued that the Maoists must agree on a package deal that includes various contentious issues related to peace process and constitution drafting to pave way for the formation of such government. The NC also said it cannot accept a Maoist leadership of the government in the scenario.
Poudel said NC is not seeking to head the government at the moment. He, however, said the party would not shy away from taking national responsibility, if needed.
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