As per the midnight deal reached among the major parties --UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UMDF), the government will form a state restructuring commission through political consensus within three days, and such a commission will submit its report to the government within two months. [break]
“I express my commitment to implementing the agreement and taking the peace and constitution drafting process ahead,” said Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai while announcing the decisions at parliament just before midnight.
The proposed commission will take into account the opinions expressed during CA meetings, article 138 of the interim constitution, the decisions as well as notes of dissent in the report of the CA state restructuring committee, and make identity and capability as the basis for state restructuring, while making its recommendations.
The constitution amendment bill for forming an expert panel to make recommendations on state restructuring as per the Nov. 1 peace deal could not materialize as lawmakers from the Maoist radical faction seriously opposed the move. Similarly, many lawmakers from the janajati caucus had registered amendment proposals against the government’s bill, saying that formation of a panel in the CA will amount to creating a body parallel to the state restructuring committee and will negate the committee’s decisions.
Initially, the leaders of the UMDF were also opposed to the formation of a state restructuring commission, saying the move would violate the party’s earlier stance. But they eventually gave in. However, Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) leader Jitendra Sonal, seeking time from Speaker Subas Nembang after the prime minister announced the decision, still expressed his reservations against it.
The decision was, however, welcome for the NC. “We have been in favor of forming such a commission since the very beginning. The demand of the NC has finally been met today,” said NC General Secretary Krishna Prasad Situala.
The NC had agreed to drop its demand for such a commission only after the major parties agreed to form an expert panel under the Nov. 1 peace deal.
According to NC leaders, the party stuck to its demand that the parties announce formation of a commission as per the constitution if the government backtracks from the constitution amendment bill concerning the expert panel.
It is surprising that the Maoists, especially the radicals, had all along been opposed to the formation of a commission, saying there is no relevance of such a commission as the CA Committee on state restructuring has already prepared its report.
The party hardliners had cried foul over both the four-point deal between the UMDF and the Maoists for the formation of the current coalition and the seven-point deal among the major parties, and they have taken Friday’s turn of events as a victory for their faction.
Maoist leader Dev Gurung from the radical faction came out of the CA building at New Baneshwor in the evening to tell journalists about his faction’s ‘victory’.
“Now there will be a state restructuring commission, not an expert panel,” said an elated Gurung who had all along been the most vociferous opponent of a state restructuring commission.
Earlier in the day, the major three parties had agreed to move ahead with the constitution amendment bill, but the Maoist radical faction objected seriously to the decision during the parliamentary board meeting.
Later in the evening the parties reached a decision to form the commission, not the panel. The cabinet endorsed both the withdrawal of the bill and the three-party decision to form a commission. The major difference between the commission and the expert panel is that the former would have been formed by the government, while the latter will be formed by the CA.
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