KATHMANDU, Sept 22: Nepali Congress (NC) President Girija Prasad Koirala said on Tuesday that federal states must be carved along north-south lines to keep the territorial integrity intact. [break]
Koirala, who made a rare public appearance on Tuesday, vowed that he would not let the federal structures to be carved on other bases such as ethnicity or geography saying they would lead to the disintegration of the country.
“Various sorts of opinions on federal structures have been coming forth. What is this drama all about? ”asked Koirala. “ I have no idea where will this lead us to?”
Koirala´s remarks have come at a time when some political parties, including the Unified CPN (Maoist) and the UML have proposed creating states on the basis of ethnicity. The Maoists have already presented their proposal for 13 states in federal Nepal to the Constituent Assembly (CA) Committee on State Restructuring. The NC and the UML are still in the process of finalizing their proposals.
The Madhesi parties have, however, been insisting on creating one Madhes state in the entire southern plains. “I strongly believe that the federal states must be demarcated along north-south lines,” he said.
The octogenarian leader said that he has already talked to India and other countries about the delineation of federal states. He vowed that he would not allow federal states along ethnic lines if that leads to the disintegration of the country. “I will not let that happen as long as I am alive,” he said.
Koirala was speaking at a function organized to launch a book Nepali Congressko Itihasko Prarup authored by the party´s central working committee member Purushottam Basnet. The book deals with the activities of founding leaders of Nepali Congress and the party´s history between 1903 BS and 2011 BS.
´Only Westminster model suitable for Nepal´
Koirala also stressed that his party would work toward retaining the Westminster model of governance. “I know the Maoists have proposed presidential system, but Westminster model is suitable for Nepal.”
He claimed that the Maoists who had earlier agreed to go for the British parliamentary system later changed their mind. “I have spoken to Prachanda (Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal) about this.”
´High-level mechanism must to end intra-party discord´
The NC president who has been advocating for the creation of a high-level political mechanism to oversee the government function and constitution-writing again raised the topic at the function. Such a mechanism is to be manned by party chiefs of major political parties.
“In the absence of such a high-level mechanism, NC, the Maoists and the UML have been hit by internal turmoil,” Koirala said, justifying the need for the body. “Discord within the parties can only be tackled if such a mechanism is created.”
While both the Maoists and the UML have agreed in principle to form such a mechanism, the Maoists want it to oversee only the constitution-writing aspect since they question the legitimacy of the current coalition government.
Koirala said that they had been able to bring the Maoists into mainstream politics with the help of such a mechanism in the past. “Such a mechanism will help end differences among parties,” he said, adding: “This will only help draft new constitution and bring about peace and stability to the country.”
Koirala said that internal turmoil in all major political parties could bring splits in the parties. “I don´t want to see any of the parties split. The parties should not split as they are the strength of the country,” he added.
´No compromise on sovereignty and independence´
Koirala said that he would not tolerate any foreign interference in Nepal´s sovereignty and independence. “I will, at any cost, not compromise with any parties or forces about Nepal´s sovereignty and independence,” he said.
He said that he has already to talked to India, China and other international community about this.
Khanal meets Koirala, Dahal
CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal on Tuesday met NC President Koirala and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Sources said Khanal discussed high-level political mechanism for resolving the political standoff.
“There has been an agreement to hold a meeting of top leaders from three parties after Dashain to form a mechanism,” said a source close to Koirala.
During the meeting, Koirala had pointed out the need to form such a mechanism to sort out intra-party differences and help take the ongoing peace process to a logical end.
Koirala also cautioned that foreign interference could increase if the major political parties failed to forge consensus.
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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