Koirala, however, clarified that NC was not in favor of reinstating the CA until there is a guarantee about the promulgation of the new statute.
“We can’t go for CA revival at somebody’s whims. First, there should be a guarantee of promulgating the new statute,” he said. “We might get ditched if we agree on reinstating the CA unless there is a guarantee that a new statute will be promulgated.” Addressing the Western Regional Level Orientation function to the party leaders in Palpa, Koirala argued that President Ram Baran Yadav could be asked to play the role of a mediator for guaranteeing the promulgation of new statute. [break]
“We should keep president and international community as witness and determine their role to guarantee the promulgation of new statute,” he said, adding, “Only then, the new constitution can be promulgated by reviving the CA for a few days.”
Koirala argued that the NC could accept the proposal to reinstate the CA for promulgating new statute only if there was a consensus among parties on resolving the contentious issues in the new statute.
Coming down heavily against the Maoist allegation that NC had failed to pick prime ministerial candidate, Koirala said that NC could pick a new prime ministerial candidate within an hour. “This is just an attempt to incite conflict among the leaders in the party,” he said. “There is no problem in picking the name of a prime ministerial candidate. NC can give the name within one hour.”
NC Senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba argued that there was no alternative to the CA revival. “About 95 percent of the work in the constitution drafting had already been completed. The CA revival is the best alternative to complete the remaining five percent of task,” he said.
Deuba argued that CA revival is inevitable even if the parties decide to go for fresh election as it requires bringing amendments to the Interim Constitution. “The need of the hour is agreement among parties. The country can not find an outlet to the current problem unless there is an agreement among parties,” he said.
NC Vice President Ram Chandra Paudel argued that the CA must me revived, even if it is just for two days, for promulgating the new statute. “The new constitution should not be promulgated from outside the CA,” Paudel said.
Paudel spoke in favor of referendum for determining the number of provinces and settling the issues related to ethnic identity-based federal state.
“A referendum would be the best alternative to resolve these two contentious issues,” he said, adding that there was a general agreement in NC about settling contentious issues through referendum.
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