Kathmandu: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai who hurriedly dissolved the Constituent Assembly and announced for fresh poll for CA in November, after failing to deliver the constitution within the extended deadline, has now come under fire from all quarters.
Soon after President Ram Baran Yadav reduced him to a caretaker and asked to perform day-to-day affairs of the state, he seems to have started losing ground.
A case was filed against the PM in the Supreme Court terming his move as unconstitutional and students started burning his effigies in the streets of Kathmandu one after another.
Today, thousands of students and youths under the banner of over a dozen organisations rallied in Kathmandu with his effigy and finally burnt it in a college asking Bhattarai to immediately quit and pave way for formation of a national consensus government, according to Mahesh Nepali, central member of Nepal Students Union affiliated to the Nepali Congress.
Traffic was obstructed for more than an hour in the busy streets of Kathmandu due to the protests.
The dissident faction of the UCPN -Maoist led by senior Vice-chairman Mohan Vaidya has held Maoist chief Prachanda and Prime Minister Bhattarai mainly responsible for the failure to draft the new constitution.
Vaidya has also asked resignation from Prime Minister Bhattarai saying that his move was unconstitutional.
At the meeting of former lawmakers close to the Vaidya in Kupondol, former chief whip of the Maoist party Dev Gurung had presented an analysis of how the Constituent Assembly failed to draft the new constitution.
The meeting concluded that Prachanda in his capacity as the coordinator of the dispute resolution sub-committee under the Constitutional Committee did not take any initiative to put the unresolved issues to vote in the CA.
The meeting also concluded that "external forces" were at play in dissolving the Constituent Assembly without naming any one.
Nepali Congress Central member Ram Sharan Mahat welcomed the decision of the president to give Prime Minister caretaker status and said that the political deadlocks can only be solved through national consensus government.
"Dissolution of the government would open doors for consensus politics. Hence, the national consensus government is very important," Mahat said talking to reporters here.
He said that the Nepali Congress will not participate in the election called by some political parties with the intention to capture the power.
PTI
