Addressing an All-Party Political Interaction organized by the Federal Democratic Republican Alliance (FDRA) in the capital, Dahal said that NC President Sushil Koirala had failed to pick the party´s prime ministerial candidate despite repeated requests. [break]"The person who would lead the new government could be liberal enough to accommodate the voices of others," he said.
NC President Sushil Koirala, senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel are vying for the post of prime minister at the head of a national consensus government. "It is apparent that the two others will put him in difficulties when one of the three is declared prime ministerial candidate," argued Dahal.
Referring to remarks by NC President Sushil Koirala that they had a serious ´trust deficit´ with the Maoists, Dahal argued that the trust deficit was now not with the Maoists but with the leaders of the respective parties themselves. "It would be a great contribution to forging national consensus if the NC picked a prime ministerial candidate for a national consensus government," he maintained.
Arguing that there was no alternative to consensus, Dahal asked the NC and UML to agree to either fresh elections or revival of the Constituent Assembly (CA) after settling the contentious issues that surfaced during the constitution drafting process.
He argued that the CA can be revived for a few days to promulgate the new statute, with an agreement to settle the remaining issues through an elected parliament. "We can settle through referendum the issues that parliament fails to resolve," he said, referring to the three-party negotiations being held in recent days.
Stating that the alliance of ruling parties had no problem giving NC the leadership of the government if there was agreement on all the contentious issues of the new statute and the method of promulgating it as per the five-point deal, Dahal insisted that the Baburam Bhattarai-led government was not a hindrance to consensus among parties. "But we cannot accept the NC´s leadership of the government for holding elections unless there is such agreement," he further said.
Dahal also defended the Maoist demand for a single ethnic identity-based federal state, saying that such a federal state will essentially be multi-ethnic identity-based. "What we have been demanding is a federal state that ensures ethnic identity. Since none of the ethnic groups has absolute majority [in any of the regions in the country], the single ethnic identity based federal state will eventually become a multi-ethnic identity-based state," he said.
The main opposition parties NC and UML had boycotted the all-party interaction while Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Pashupati SJB Rana, who attended the function, criticized the Dahal-led alliance, saying it would not help resolve the deadlock. Dahal, however, defended the 21-party alliance, saying that it was for forging consensus, not for spoiling it.
On the occasion, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said cooperation, unity and consensus among political parties were still necessary as the journey they embarked on after signing the 12-point agreement was still incomplete. He also reiterated that he would immediately quit his post once the parties reached an agreement on a future course of action.
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