Kathmandu: Stepping up pressure on the
CPN-UML led coalition to quit so as to save the faltering
peace process, Maoists top leader Baburam Bhattarai today
claimed that late Nepali Congress president wanted the present
government to resign.
Baburam Bhattarai, the UCPN-Maoist vice chairman,
claimed that former prime minister G P Koirala had mentioned
in the High-Level Political Mechanism meetings that the
CPN-UML government should step down.
He told mediapersons in the tourist town of Pokhara
that CPN-UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal was a witness to the
statement in the HLPM meetings.
"Girija Prasad Koirala used to say in the high-level
mechanism meetings that the government should step down and
UML leader J N Khanal is witness to it," Bhattarai said.
Speaking at a press conference in Pokhara, Bhattarai
warned that the country will plunged into a major political
crisis if the current coalition continues in office.
He underlined that the ruling coalition must be
replaced by a new government led by Maoists to tide over the
current political imbroglio.
"It is mandatory to move ahead for the accomplishment
of peace and a new constitution through broader political
consensus," he underlined.
"In this regard, the formation of a new national unity
government headed by the Maoists is imperative," he said.
Maoists plan to hold a massive rally in the capital
next month to destabilise the CPN-UML-led 22-party coalition
as the former rebels sought the leadership of a top panel
tasked to supervise the stalled peace process?
Prachanda, the chairman of the main Opposition Unified
CPN-Maoist, will address the grand rally in Kathmandu on April
6 to step up pressure on the government to quit.
The former rebels accused the coalition of being the
main obstacle in drafting the new constitution by May 28, the
stipulated time for the process.
The political leaders are struggling to meet a May
28 deadline to finish the drafting of a new constitution as
stipulated by the peace process that brought the decade-long
civil war to an end in 2006.
Disagreements persist on such fundamental issues as
the structure of the national government and the creation of
federal states.
Analysts fear that the death of Koirala, who was
instrumental in bringing the Maoists to mainstream politics
after a decade-long insurgency in 2006, could derail the
faltering peace process.
Koirala, who died on March 20 aged 85, spent the
final months of his life engaged in a desperate effort to put
the stalled peace process back on track in the country
The Maoists have now demanded to lead the High Level
Political Mechanism (HLPM), a three party body earlier headed
by the late Premier to facilitate the peace process.
Political tensions have been high in Nepal since a
government led by the Maoists resigned last year amid a
dispute with President Ram Baran Yadav over the reinstatement
of former army chief Rukmangad Katawal, who was dismissed by
the Prachanda-led government in May 2009.
The Maoists have demanded that the president publicly
admit that he acted "unconstitutionally" when he reversed the
decision by the Prachanda-led government to fire the Army
Chief. They then want the government disbanded, followed by
the formation of a new coalition led by them.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 28, 2010, 22:56