The party reached a decision to this effect during a politburo meeting at party headquarters Paris Danda after over six-hour long deliberations on Sunday. [break]
“We will make public the people´s federal democratic constitution on May 29 on the occasion of the second Republic Day. There is no meaning in giving our approval for the CA extension deadline until the incumbent government remains,” said Maoist Spokesperson Dinanath Sharma.
The Maoist party has put forward two conditions before the ruling parties for it approval to extend the CA deadline: First, resignation of the prime minister to pave way for Maoist-led national unity government and second amendment to the interim constitution replacing the current majority system with the previous consensus system for sharing power and conducting state business.
The party has also put off the training programs for its cadres scheduled for May 18 and the urban-centric demonstrations slated for May 25.
“The politburo members asked the leadership what they can tell cadres in the orientation programs in wake of the general strike fiasco and the leadership was at a loss. Hence the programs were put off,” said a politburo member requesting anonymity.
According to the leader, the party´s next strategic move will be decided by the central committee meeting scheduled for May 21. “The meeting will deliberate on the party´s future course of action,” he said.
Almost all the politburo members had spoken during the meeting on Sunday. The leaders also reached a conclusion that there is no possibility of an “immediate revolt to topple the regime”.
“The indefinite general strike fiasco was a great lesson to the party that enough homework should be done and the grounds should swell for such a revolt,” said the leader.
Some politburo members demanded clarification from party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on why he publicly said that the Maoist party was open about other political parties leading the next government.
“But the chairman clarified that he did not mean letting the leaders of other parties lead the consensus government,” another leader quoted Dahal as saying.
According to leaders, the members also criticized the leadership for adopting the course of action that did not benefit the party at all.
´We´d rather go back to war´
Maoist Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai has said his party would rather go back to war than bow down to the "blackmailing" of the ruling parties.
"The Maoist party is ready to again go back to war, but will not bow down to the ruling parties. They are thinking that they can blackmail us by making hostage the Constituent Assembly (CA), interim constitution and Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)," Dr Bhattarai told myrepublica.com.
He said that his party has set May 21 as deadline for the ruling parties to come to consensus. "Then the party will chart out the future plan. The ruling parties construed our flexibility as weakness," he said.
When asked about the Nepali Congress (NC) proposal to fix the number of combatants to be integrated and timeframe for integration, he said, "Who is the NC to make such demands? It is us who fought the war. How can the NC fix the number of combatants to be integrated," he said.
Bhattarai argued that his party is making public a new constitution so that the people know what a Maoist-proposed constitution would be like.
post@myrepublica.com
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