KATHMANDU, April 20:The ruling Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML have decided to send the agreed upon issues in constitution writing to the drafting committee of the Constituent Assembly (CA) if there is no agreement on issues concerning federalism at the three-party meeting scheduled for Monday morning.
A meeting held at Prime Minister Sushil Koirala's official residence in Baluwatar on Sunday morning also decided to continue negotiations on disputed issues of federalism while the CA's drafting committee prepares a draft of the new statute. The three-party meeting is being held at the initiative of Prime Minister Koirala, who is leaving for Indonesia on a nine-day visit on Monday to attend the Afro-Asian Summit.
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As there was no consensus between the three major parties on issues related to federalism, especially regarding five districts in the southern plains, NC and UML had earlier proposed sending agreed upon issues to the drafting committee and continuing negotiations on the issues of federalism. However, NC and UML backtracked after the main opposition party, UCPN (Maoist), expressed strong reservations over the proposal.
According to NC Chief Whip Chin Kaji Shrestha, the two parties decided not to wait indefinitely for consensus as their repeated efforts for the past several months have failed to yield results. "We will now make a final effort for consensus. But if there is no consensus, due process of statute drafting will begin in CA," he said. The next CA meeting has been called for April 23.
Earlier, the three major parties -- NC, UML and the UCPN (Maoist) -- had reached an informal understanding that NC and UML would demonstrate flexibility toward the UCPN(Maoist)'s demand concerning judiciary and electoral system, while the Maoists would write a note of dissent on system of governance proposed by NC and UML.
NC and UML have decided to hold a meeting with UCPN (Maoist) seeking its support to forward the agreed upon issues to the drafting committee if there is no consensus on issues related to federalism. The two ruling parties have proposed leaving it for the local people to name their respective provinces.
NC Chief Whip Shrestha said they have proposed making a mention of the federal model proposed by UCPN(Maoist), Madhes-based parties and ruling parties in the annexes so that people may have their say in the delineation of the federal states.
"We are hopeful that the UCPN (Maoist) would agree to it as this clearly shows that we are committed to federalism. Even if there is no agreement on this proposal, we have decided to forward the issues agreed upon to the drafting committee of the CA," he said.
