"The political forces in the country have already been divided into two fronts -- the democratic front led by CPN-UML and the other front led by totalitarian UCPN (Maoist). A serious confrontation may take place between the two political forces if the ruling parties continued to obstruct attempts at political consensus," Khanal said at a function organized by the party at its head office in Balkhu on Sunday.[break]
He was giving an orientation to Kathmandu-based leading party cadres to make the show of strength planned by nine opposition parties scheduled for February 8 in Kathmandu.
Stating that the ongoing protests led by Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML is in a warm-up stage, Khanal argued that the upcoming show of strength to be staged by the opposition forces would force the ruling Maoist leaders to agree to the opposition parties´ demands.
He said that opposition parties spent months while trying to reach an agreement with ruling coalition through dialogue. "Tired of Maoist leaders´ dishonesty, now we have opted to take to the streets to compel them to an agreement," he explained. "If the Maoists still remain adamant, the people´s power will sweep them away leaving no space for them in the political spectrum."
He accused the present government of creating an obstruction in holding fresh elections for Constituent Assembly, making crucial constitutional bodies dysfunctional and creating political, constitutional as well as financial crisis in the country. "We launched agitation against this government to salvage the country from such crises," he explained.
Party Secretary Shankar Pokharel said the ongoing agitation aims to reinstate the democratic process in the country by defeating "Maoists´ totalitarian tendency".
"Now we are at the stage of compelling the ruling coalition for a political agreement but if they are not ready for that we will resort to boycotting them just like we did to the former king Gyanendra Shah," said Pokharel. "At first, we were for giving some space for the king but as he didn´t listen to the parties´ demands our movement swept him away."
UML leaders announced at the function that they have already completed internal preparatory works for the February 8 protest. The party has planned to distribute handbills to public appealing them to join their mass gathering and seeking public support to the anti-government protests. Such a campaign will continue for three days starting Tuesday. Also, the UML has planned to take out a motorcycle rally with over 2,000 participants joining the demonstrations on Friday, a day before the mass gathering is scheduled in Kathmandu. The opposition parties have announced to bring tens of thousands of demonstrators in Kathmandu on February 8.
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