The president sent a letter to this effect to the CA Secretariat shortly after the political parties urged him to extend the deadline on Wednesday evening, said President´s Press Advisor Rajendra Dahal. The president has expressed hope that the parties would be able to forge consensus within the extended deadline, he said. [break]
Following Prime Minister Madhav Nepal´s resignation on July 1, the president had given seven days to the parties to form a consensus government.
Senior leaders of the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN-UML as well as other parties in the CA had reached Sheetal Niwas at 5 pm along with a minute of the 25 parties´ decision seeking extension of the deadline.
The parties urged president Yadav to extend the deadline saying they needed additional time to “do necessary homework to prepare grounds for the formation of national consensus government”.
Earlier in the afternoon, an all-party meet in the CA held on the initiative of the big three parties had unanimously agreed to ask the president to extend the deadline.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal said they decided to ask the president for deadline extension so that consensus could be reached by holding further rounds of negotiations. “Other parties in the constituent assembly have said that they too agree with our proposal to seek deadline extension,” he said.
The NC and UML have maintained that the Maoists must resolve the issue of the management of their combatants, return properties seized during the insurgency, disband paramilitary structure of the Young Communist League (YCL) and also arrive at consensus on all contention issues related to peace process as per the three-point deal reached among the three parties on May 28.
NC Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel said they will form a task force to expedite inter-party dialogues to forge consensus. “We will hold detailed discussion on issues related to peace process and constitution drafting with the Maoists to arrive at consensus.”
Earlier on Wednesday morning, the big three parties had held a meeting after failing to form national unity government as asked by President Yadav in accordance with the Article 38 (1) of the Interim Constitution.
As per the constitutional provision in Article 38 (2), the president shall call upon the parties to form majority government should the parties fail to form national consensus within the deadline.
According to NC General Secretary Bimalendra Nidhi, who was present in the three-party meeting, UML Chairman Khanal had proposed asking President Dr Yadav to extend the deadline by five days arguing that national consensus government was a must to take the ongoing peace process to a logical end.
NC Acting President Sushil Koirala and Maoist Chairman had seconded Khanal´s proposal while urging that a formal decision on the issue be taken only after meeting other parties in the CA.
NC and UML leaders are hopeful that the Maoist will cooperate by settling all issues, including the management of the cantoned combatants, to pave way for the formation of national consensus government.
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal during the meeting had said that his party is ready to exercise maximum flexibility to settle all contentious issues.
Related news: Prez asks parties to form consensus govt in a week
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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