Kathmandu: Nepal’s lawmakers are set to meet on Thursday to vote to extend the term of their Constituent Assembly by another six months but former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal of the CPN-UML wants Premier Baburam Bhattarai to step down first to pave way for a consensus government.
A meeting of three chief whips -– Dev Prasad Gurung of UCPN-Maoists, Laxman Ghimire of Nepali Congress and Bhim Acharya of CPN-UML -– with CA Chairman Subas Nembang agreed to schedule the vote for Thursday.
But the major political parties still appear undecided over whether to back the government’s proposal to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly that expires in November end.
Both the UML party Prime Ministers — Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal — had to resign from their posts to make way for earlier tenure extensions of the CA.
Khanal interestingly floated a similar proposal during his party’s standing committee meeting last week seeking the Maoist leader Bhattarai’s resignation in lieu of supporting the government’s move to extend the CA term. He said the Prime Minister should resign to pave way for forming a national consensus government. His party, which is the third largest in the CA, is holding its Central Committee meeting on Wednesday to decide on the matter.
According to CPN-UML sources, party chairman Khanal has forwarded the proposal in the meeting to extend the CA term by another six months only after an alternative to the present coalition government is found.
Nepali Congress issued a whip to its lawmakers on Sunday asking them to be compulsorily present during the voting but the party has not yet decided whether to vote in favour or against the move. Upendra Yadav, president of the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum, meanwhile, said that the peace process and the constitution drafting can be completed only if the political parties agree to form a national consensus government.
Nepal launched its peace process that requires the drafting of a Constitution five years back but constant sparring between the political parties has not allowed the country to make progress towards its conclusion. (PTI)
