The party has said that the President has gone beyond his limitations, jurisdiction and the dignity of the office of president in making such remarks. [break]
"This meeting urges the honorable president to maintain the dignity of his office and not cross his limitation and jurisdiction," said a statement issued after the parliamentary party meeting.
UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya said the party objected to Yadav´s remarks as it was not the President´s concern what the House can or cannot do. "The president is supposed to simply endorse the decisions of the House," Acharya said.
Speaking exclusively to Republica´s sister publication Nagarik last Tuesday, President Yadav had warned of serious political consequences if the parties failed to write the new constitution within the stipulated timeframe. "If the constitution is not written within the time stipulated by the Interim Constitution, it will lead to serious political complications. I am worried about that situation," the President said in the interview.
Meanwhile, UML lawmaker Yamlal Kandel raised serious objections at the parliamentary meeting on Monday to the President´s remarks.
He said that going through his interview Yadav didn´t seem like a president but like a leader of a particular political party. "The head of state shouldn´t present himself as a political leader in an interview with media," Kandel said. He also accused the President of dictating to parliament on what to do and what not to do. "Parliament is sovereign when it comes to whether to amend the constitution or not," he said.
The UML leader also objected to opinions published by the President´s legal advisor, Surya Dhungel, which are similar to that of the President. "....Hence from May 28, 2010 onwards, the CA would be automatically dissolved and CA members will be jobless. It is simply due to incompetency of the key political leaders and the 25 political parties represented in the CA to prepare the constitutional draft, that the country will have to look for an extra-constitutional device in order to fill in the constitutional vacuum created after May 28, 2010," Dhungel wrote in Republica.
Back to directly-elected PM
Among other things, the PP meeting also decided to stand by pledges made by the party in its CA election manifesto on system of governance. The party has advocated a prime minister directly elected through popular vote and mixed-member proportional representative elections for other posts.
Last month, in voting at the CA committee on system of governance, the UML had voted in favor of the model proposed by the Nepali Congress under which the prime minister would be elected from the House, and in return the NC had backed the mixed member proportional representative electoral system proposed by UML.
Kandel said the decision was taken as the party can´t easily change policy mentioned in the election manifesto and endorsed by the party general convention.
However, Prithivi Subba Gurung, who represents the party on the CA committee, said that they had decided to vote in favor of the NC-proposed model as per the party´s decision taken at its politburo meeting.
Parliamentary party backs HLPM
The PP meeting also supported the formation of a High Level Political Mechanism, in which parliamentary party leader and Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal represents the UML. The decision comes at a time when Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and senior leader KP Sharma Oli have openly expressed reservations over the HLPM.
Acharya said the meeting decided to wholeheartedly support the formation of the HLPM as it would facilitate constitution-drafting and the peace process. "The objective of this body is good," he said.
thira@myrepublica.com
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