He said he was still optimistic about forging consensus among the political parties on his proposal. “It will be unfortunate for the country if we don´t agree on leadership of the new government by a political leader, an independent candidate or chief justice,” Dahal said addressing a function at Shivanagar. [break]“It would not be in the interest of the country to hold the country a hostage of indecision.”
He argued that the political parties must agree on an idea acceptable to all sides and that the chief justice can be the right person as people have faith on the judiciary. He said the judiciary is the place where people look forward to when everything fails.
Dahal claimed that he floated the proposal in line with international practices.
“Forming a government headed by chief justice is basically to hold the Constituent Assembly election. If any side disagrees with the proposal, it is clear that they are not in favor of fresh polls,” Dahal said at a press meet in Hetauda earlier in the morning. He maintained that the proposal is the best alternative at the moment.
Stating that the latest proposal was the last option that can be discussed with a view to finding a common point, he said the parties will have no alternative other than taking a decision through the streets if this proposal was turned down. “Such a scenario will be unfortunate,” he explained.
He claimed that top leaders of the major opposition political parties weren´t negative about his proposal. “We are holding a meeting at the president´s office on Saturday evening and I am optimistic about an agreement,” he said.
The seventh general convention that concluded in Hetauda on Friday endorsed Dahal´s proposal to form an election government under the leadership of sitting chief justice to to end the ongoing political impasse.
However, major opposition parties and ruling leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, have rejected the idea saying it is yet another ploy of the UCPN(Maoist) leaders to confuse the agitating opposition parties as well as the public.
Also, legal experts have said the Maoist proposal contravenes the Interim Constitution, which states that the chief justices or judges of the Supreme Court shall not be engaged in or deputed to any other assignment except that of a judge.
Failing to agree on a common prime ministerial candidate from a political party, the UCPN (Maoist) leaders had earlier proposed to nominate a civil society leader for the prime minister´s post. This idea was also rejected by the opposition parties.
The nine-party alliance of the opposition parties led by the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML has proposed NC President Sushil Koirala as their common prime ministerial candidate.
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