He also announced he would not bow to pressure and non-cooperation.[break]
The prime minister at a meeting of the Constitutional Committee (CC) under the CA on Sunday complained that the twin tasks of peace process and constitution writing couldn´t gather momentum despite his working ´earnestly´.
"I have left no stone unturned to expedite the peace and constitution writing processes and I have maintained maximum possible flexibility for resolving problems but I have instead been facing non-cooperation from the parties," a CC member quoted the prime minister as saying at the meeting where top leaders from the major political parties including UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress´s parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel and CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, among other key leaders, were present. "But I am not going to surrender under pressure."
According to participants, the prime minister was of the view that the government was merely a facilitator when it comes to advancing the tasks of constitution drafting and peace process and that the ball lies in the court of the political parties.
"The tasks have been hindered because the parties haven´t been able to resolve differences among themselves," a leader quoted Bhattarai as saying.
But leaders from the major opposition and other parties strongly rejected the prime minister´s arguments.
"The prime minister expressed his grievances but his complain just doesn´t hold water because he is the luckiest among the prime ministers after the formation of the Constituent Assembly," leader of the main opposition, Paudel, told reporters after the meeting. "He couldn´t explain where exactly other parties created problems."
According to Bhim Rawal of CPN-UML the prime minister tried to paint a terrible picture of the peace process and constitution writing and he would keep on complaining about other leaders and added that history would judge him. "The prime minister´s accusation is baseless because we wanted nothing more than implementation of the past agreements," Rawal told reporters.
Also, other lawmakers including Prakash Chandra Lohani of Rastriya Janashakti Party and Prem Bahadur Singh of Socialist People´s Party echoed Paudel´s views. Lohani said CC members weren´t convinced by the prime minister´s arguments.
"Because his is the government that takes controversial decisions and it is his own [Maoist] party that would first denounce cabinet decisions and demand the prime minister´s resignation," said Lohani. "The prime minister, who does not have full support from his own party, should not accuse opposition parties for the problems."
After spending around three hours in arguments and counterarguments, the CC meeting concluded without entering the scheduled agenda items.
Top leaders including Dahal, Paudel and Khanal told the meeting that the leaders are yet to reach any understanding on the remaining contentious issues in constitution writing and the peace process. The next CC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.
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