Gurung, a key leader of the hardline faction in the ruling UCPN (Maoist), floated the proposal at a CC meeting on Saturday. [break]
Gurung argued that with the subcommittee has lost its legitimacy and relevance as it has failed to accomplish the task of resolving the disputes within the set deadline of December 30.
The subcommittee, which is headed by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and represented by key leaders from major political parties, has brought down the list of 75 disputes to 14 but has failed to settle some thorny issues such as the task of determining the system of governance to be adopted in the new constitution.
The CC that is entrusted with the task of preparing an integrated draft of the new constitution by incorporating all the thematic reports constituted the Dahal-headed body.
“The subcommittee was given a December 30 deadline, which was later extended till January 4 but it failed to settle the disputes. Therefore, the subcommittee is defunct,” Gurung told Republica.
“The new calendar of the CA has given more time to the CC but the extension doesn´t apply for the subcommittee.” He claimed that the CA in its new calendar doesn´t recognize the subcommittee.
Maoist hardliners, including Gurung, have been lobbying against the formation of the subcommittee and Dahal´s leadership in the body. CC members from other political parties claim that Gurung and others from the faction are not happy with Dahal for showing flexibility at the subcommittee.
However, Gurung in public has said that the chairman of the largest party, Dahal, shouldn´t head the subcommittee, under the CC -- headed by a junior leader from another political party.
“There is no possibility of giving continuity to the subcommittee. We can form a new body if deemed necessary but the new one should be constituted under a different model,” he said.
Against party system
Gurung claimed that there has been a basic flaw in constituting the subcommittee saying it picked members on an individual basis against the party system. He said a new panel should be constituted by incorporating all the top seven leaders from the UCPN (Maoist) and key leaders such as Nepali Congress (NC) President Sushil Koirala and KP Oli from CPN-UML, so as to make the decision making system more effective and to ensure implementation of the decisions.
“Conversely, the subcommittee picked some of the top leaders and CC members on an individual basis. Such a model doesn´t function in multiparty system,” said Gurung.
He argued that the dispute resolution subcommittee could be formed outside the CA.
But CC members from other parties have smelt a rat over Gurung´s proposal to dissolve the subcommittee.
“The subcommittee is a body recognized by the CA, the CC and mentioned even in the CA´s new calendar. I don´t understand why a responsible leader like the chief whip of the largest party Gurung is lobbying for its dissolution,” CC member Agni Kharel of CPN-UML told Republica.
He said termination of the subcommittee would cause a serious setback in the constitution writing process. “There will be no other appropriate forum to settle the disputes,” he asked.
Another CC member Sunil Prajapati of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party said that such a move by the largest party has pushed the constitution writing process to uncertainty. “A key leader from the coordinator´s party has raised a question over the legitimacy of the subcommittee. So it has definitely added further complexity to the statute drafting process,” said Prajapati.
Last year, Dahal had to step down as coordinator of the high-level taskforce formed to settle disputes in constitution writing due to objection from party hardliners even as the taskforce reduced the number of disputes from 210 to 75. After a gap of some months, the subcommittee was formed under the CC due to pressure from leaders from non-Maoist parties.
The subcommittee, which is also represented by former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal, NC parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel, among others, has brought down the list of 75 disputes to around 14. It is yet to resolve some knotty issues like the system of governance.
CC member Prem Bahadur Singh said they had to put pressure to pick Dahal as the head of the subcommittee as Maoist hardliners were against him accepting the position.
Dahal has been criticized by the Maoist hardliners saying that he made several compromises in the subcommittee in contravention of the party´s official line.
Related story
Desperate search for missing girls as nearly 80 dead in Texas f...
-1200x560-1779450784.webp)
