A gathering of UML lawmakers at their parliamentary party office in Singha Durbar on Sunday formed a 17-member secretariat headed by lawmaker Yamlal Khandel to steer the campaign.[break]
The gathering took two decisions. One, the lawmakers decided to press the UML leadership to end the party´s indecisive stance over some of the key issues such as system of governance and federal model. "At first, we will pile pressure on our own party´s leadership to immediately end the indecisiveness over crucial agenda items so that UML´s readiness will instigate other parties to settle thorny issues," Kandel told Republica.
The lawmakers will also press the CA´s Constitutional Committee (CC) to expedite its work of resolving disputes in statute drafting and to prepare an integrated draft of the new constitution.
Secondly, the meeting decided to hold discussions with lawmakers from other political parties to formulate common programs to create public pressure for ensuring peace and constitution.
The newly formed secretariat will hold regular meetings on Thursday every week so that the campaign does not run out of steam over time, said the lawmakers who took part in the meeting.
The member of the secretariat include Ramnath Dhakal, Rabindra Adhikari, Kiran Gurung, Ramji Sharma, Harka Bahadur Singh, Puran Singh Dayal, Dhirendra Shrestha, Lalmani Chaudhary, Krishna Prasad Sapkota, Shanti Adhikari Basnet, Gopal Thakur, Rijwan Ansari, Usha Kala Rai, Dharma Niraula, Dambar Singh Sambhahamphe and Devi Lal Thapa. Other UML lawmakers except for senior leaders are members of campaign.
"We decided not to include senior party leaders who are in the party´s decision-making bodies such as politburo and standing committee and the lawmakers who are members in the CA´s Constitutional Committee because they can have their say at their own platforms," said a participant.
Some of the lawmakers who are among the secretariat members including Kandel, Dhakal and Adhikari are the ones who at the UML´s parliamentary party meeting earlier this week had lobbied for the cancellation of the scheduled foreign trips of key leaders from across political parties. Leaders from UML, UCPN (Maoist) and Nepali Congress cancelled their scheduled visit to Switzerland amid the clamor.
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