In the party´s central committee meeting on Saturday, Oli suggested the party to come up with a clear proposal on the alternatives if the parties failed to draft the constitution on time. He said the parties can choose either to prepare the constitution in detail within the stipulated time or defer some contentious issues for settlement later. [break]
He suggested identifying the contentious issues first and announcing a system to be adopted to resolve them after promulgation of the constitution. "We may go for a referendum to settle the contentious issues. Or we may also entrust the parliament or a commission with finding out proper solution to the issues. But the system to settle the issues must be made clear prior to promulgating the constitution," leaders present in the meeting quoted Oli as saying.
Earlier, party chairman Jhalanath Khanal had held similar views. In a parliamentary party meeting on January 31, Khanal had said that the parties can promulgate the constitution on time by allowing new government to accomplish the unresolved works by formulating necessary laws if they failed to resolve contentious issues including the issue of state restructuring.
Leaders from other major parties -- UCPN (Maoist) and Nepali Congress (NC) -- have also strongly indicated toward that direction by proposing the idea of forming state restructuring commission to suggest a federal model, carving out of provinces and fixing the number and names of the federal units.
In the meeting, Oli also urged the party leadership to take a clear stance on the UCPN (Maoist). Describing the Maoist ´extremism´ as the major challenge of the time, he asserted that any government in Maoist leadership can´t be accepted until the former rebel party is transformed into a democratic party and renounced violence.
"Our friends needn´t be confused about the Maoists. They had a clear plan to capture total power when they headed the government and they still are consistently working toward that objective. They are clear on their idea. It´s up to us whether we should allow them to capture the power or not," the leaders quoted Oli as saying.
He said accepting a Maoist-led government at present would be surrendering to them. Oli termed the 18 parties´ move to request the President to block then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal´s decision to sack then army chief as a wise step.
Pant for fresh poll, democratic alliance
Meanwhile, politburo member Raghuji Pant, who is also the prime minister´s chief advisor, floated a new proposal. He said the parties´ first priority should be writing the constitution on time.
But he said as the Maoists have publicly said that constitution writing and the peace process can´t be accomplished without forming new government under Maoist leadership, it was unlikely that the tasks could be completed as planned.
"Either we have to surrender to the Maoists or we have to strongly challenge them," he said in the meeting. He suggested going for a fresh election by forming an alliance of democratic parties.
"We should form an alliance of UML, NC, CPN (Marxist-Leninist), Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, CPN (United), among other democratic political parties, and go for fresh election so as to block the Maoists´ strategy to capture the power," he said.
thira@myrepublica.com
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