Kathmandu: Blaming the Maoists if there is any delay in drafting Nepal`s new Constitution, a Madhesi party fears that this could become a ground for holding of fresh elections in the country.
Sadbhavana Party president and Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato has said that the Constitution must be promulgated within the stipulated time frame of May 28, 2010 at any cost and warned that if the constitution is not prepared then the Maoists being the largest party in the Constituent Assembly should take the blame.
"If we failed to draft the Constitution within the set time frame then the mandate given by the people to the political parties would be ended and a fresh mandate is required to draft the Constitution by extending the deadline," he pointed out.
He asked the Maoists to forge consensus with other political parties in order to draft the new Constitution and conclude the peace process.
The Maoists should be serious and act responsibly in order to complete the peace process and to draft the new Constitution, he said.
Mahato was addressing a rally in Rautahat district in southern Nepal as part of the Madhes Swabhiman Yatra, a campaign being launched by his party in the southern plains of Nepal to exert pressure for timely drafting of the Constitution.
The Madhes Swabhiman Yatra began on April 03 from Jhapa district in the eastern Nepal and will conclude on April 22 in Kanchanpur district in far-West Nepal.
The campaign is aimed at drafting a Constitution that would guarantee autonomy and equal rights to the Madhesi people, he said.
The entire Madhes should be declared as an autonomous region and the rights and welfare of the Madhesi people must be enshrined in the constitution, he pointed out. The Madhesi people must get proportionate share in the government jobs and they should be included in all state mechanism on the basis of equality, he added.
The prominent Madhesi leader asked the Maoists to cooperate in managing their combatants, dissolve their para-military organisation the Young Communist League and return the seized property to their rightful owners.
The Maoists should convert their party as a civilian political party, instead of a militant organisation before they claim for the government leadership, he said.
They should totally abandon the acts of violence, terror and threats, so that a conducive atmosphere would be created to draft the Constitution, he added.
PTI
