Feeling the heat from within the party, Khanal on Tuesday finally decided to shorten his visit to Johannesburg, where he will participate in an international meeting of communist and workers´ parties starting December 3.[break]
"The chairman has decided to return home not later than December 7. He will try to shorten it further if possible. Friends are working to confirm the ticketing and reschedule other arrangements accordingly," UML leader Prakash Jwala told Republica.
A group of party leaders including Yam Lal Kandel, Jwala, Ghanshyam Bhusal, Binda Pandey, Arun Nepal and Yogesh Bhattarai pressed Khanal to cancel the visit altogether at a time when various key issues surrounding government formation and statute drafting have become urgent.
Notwithstanding widespread criticism, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal left Tuesday for Cambodia to attend an international conference of Asian political parties. Another top UML leader, KP Sharma Oli, flew for Cambodia on Monday to attend the same conference. The prime minister is scheduled to go on to Brussels from Cambodia. He will return home by December 9.
UML Secretary Bishnu Paudel said the leaders should have cancelled the foreign trips and concentrated their efforts on resolving the urgent issues in the country.
Pandey criticized the leaders for not being serious about domestic issues. "With the country in transition, our leaders should focus their efforts toward institutionalizing a suitable political system here instead of worrying about consolidating the international communist movement," Pandey said.
Another UML leader, Ghanshyam Bhusal, accused the leaders of apathy. "It is absolutely wrong to leave on foreign journeys when the country is in complete shambles," Bhusal said.
Prithivi Subba Gurung, however, finds nothing wrong with the prime minister´s visit. "It is the responsibility of the party chiefs to forge a consensus on ending the deadlock and urge the prime minister to summon the House session. What could the prime minister do even if he remains in the country if the party heads don´t reach agreement on issues including electing a new prime minister and summoning the House?" he said.
He said the party chiefs should have remained in the country to expedite statute drafting also as the heads of the major political parties are members of the high-level taskforce formed to resolve contentious issues in constitution writing.
UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya said the leaders should have avoided going abroad. "Be it a coincidence or whatever, it is unfortunate for all the top UML leaders to be outside the country at such crucial time," Acharya said.
Other UML leaders including General Secretary Ishwar Pokharel, Pradip Gyawali and Gurung are scheduled to visit Sweden starting December 4.
There was an expectation that the leaders would intensify talks after the conclusion of the Maoist plenum. But soon after the Maoist leaders returned to Kathmandu, UML leaders started leaving the country.
The high-level taskforce that made relatively good progress in resolving disputes in constitution writing is scheduled to resume its work starting Wednesday after a gap of two weeks allocated for the Maoist national conclave.
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav and Speaker Subas Nembang are also reportedly unhappy over the top leaders´ visits abroad.
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