“We will demand a special session for the purpose of electing a new prime minister,” said Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha after the meeting. [break]
Shrestha, however, said his party would hold talks with other political parties before making the petition for special session of the House.
The prime minister should call special session within 15 days if one-fourth of the parliamentarians so demand.
Maoist chief whip Posta Bahadur Bogati said the party had taken such a decision as the government prorogued the House abruptly and introduced full-fledged annual budget through an ordinance.
“But the election of the new prime minister will be our prime agenda,” said Bogati who is also the general secretary of the Maoist party.
Following the manhandling of Finance Minister Surendra Pandey by the Maoists in the House on November 19, the government prorogued the budget session and introduced the annual budget through ordinance.
The government is required to endorse any ordinance within 60 days after a session begins. Article 53 of the interim constitution is not clear whether those demanding special session can table only one specific agenda or can table multiple agendas.
Constitutional lawyers say the parliamentary practice has it that the petitioners demanding special session should specify the agenda to be dealt with during such a session. “Convention is also a kind of law and it has its importance,” said constitutional lawyer Dr Bhimarjun Acharya.
Acharya further added that the president cannot act on such a petition if the petitioners fail to specify the agenda and urgency for summoning such a session.
“If the special session is requested with no specific agenda, the president can even warn and ask them to come up with specific agenda of the special session,” Acharya argued, adding that such a session should end after having served its purpose.
While the eight political parties including the UCPN (Maoist) and the CPN-UML have demanded in writing that parliament amend the existing legal provisions to end the deadlock over prime ministerial election and begin a new process, Nepali Congress (NC) has demanded that Ram Chandra Paudel be declared prime minister unopposed.
Maoist panel on power sharing
Maoists have formed a five-member taskforce, headed by party general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa, to settle the intra-party power-sharing deal and sort out long-standing ideological differences, at least for now.
Other members in the taskforce are Netra Bikram Chand, Posta Bahadur Bogati, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and Giriraj Mani Pokharel.
Chand is close to Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, while Bogati is an aide to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Similarly, Rayamajhi is the right-hand-man of Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai while Pokharel is close to another party Vice-chairman, Narayankaji Shrestha.
“The taskforce is expected to complete its task in a week,” said a Maoist leader on condition of anonymity.
During the Palungtar Plenum, the party had decided to reshuffle responsibilities of the party leaders after Baidya and Bhattarai stated that they have been deprived of their rightful shares in the party organization.
Baidya and Bhattarai also alleged that those close to the party chairman have been entrusted with back-breaking responsibilities, while those close to them have been left without responsibilities.
Due to sharp ideological differences, including naming the party´s principal enemy the Maoist Center Committee (CC) meeting has already been postponed twice. The CC will sit on December 14.
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