Kathmandu: A meeting of the 19-party alliance led by UCPN (Maoist) on Sunday decided to strongly retaliate if the new constitution is bulldozed through majority votes without considering the rights of minorities including the Madhesis.
The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)-led alliance has accused the ruling parties-- Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN- UML-- of conspiring to promulgate new constitution on January 22 by mobilising the army, police and government employees.
It has also decided to oppose the promulgation of constitution?through any such process.
UCPN (M) Chairman Prachanda proposed the defiance accusing the ruling alliances of trying to adopt the procedural way to draft the constitution without forging consensus among political parties.
The political parties have been trying to find common grounds on the key contentious issues?- federalism, judiciary, electoral process and forms of governance?- of the constitution.
They have set January 22 deadline to draft the new constitution.
Meanwhile, pro-Hindu Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal has demanded to reconvert the country into a Hindu nation.
Nepal was declared a secular state through Parliament declaration in 2008 when monarchy was abolished after Maoists came to power.
At a function organised here to mark the National Unity Day coinciding with the birth anniversary of late Prithvinarayan Shah, who unified smaller states into a bigger country two and half a century ago, party president Kamal Thapa ruled out the possibility of drafting a new constitution by the stipulated deadline.
He said his party will organise protests if the country is not re-converted to a Hindu nation in the new constitution.
Former Home Minister Thapa also claimed that national unity and sovereignty of the country have weakened and his party is launching a campaign to strengthen it.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, former Prime Ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal and Surya Bahadur Thapa also attended the function.
