Blame Dahal for CA failure: Baidya

KIRAN PUN
KATHMANDU, May 30: The UCPN (Maoist) faction led by Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya has held top leaders of the major political parties, including Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, responsible for the failure to draft the new constitution.

At the meeting of former lawmakers close to the Baidya faction in Kupondol on Tuesday, 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 held Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Sushil Koirala, Ram Chandra Paudel and Sher Bahadur Deuba from the Nepali Congress and Jhalanath Khanal, Madhav Nepal and KP Oli from CPN (UML) responsible for the failure to draft the new constitution, said a leader present at the meeting.

The meeting concluded that Dahal 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.

"Though it appears that the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML are responsible for the dissolution of CA, Chairman Dahal and Bhattarai are no less responsible," said former Maoist lawmaker Santosh Budha Magar.

Similarly, the meeting concluded that former Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subas Nembang and the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee Nilambar Acharya are equally to be blamed for CA´s failure to draft the new constitution.

"While Nembang did not call the meeting of the Constituent Assembly for a long time, Acharya was incapable of expediting the constitution drafting process," said former Maoist CA member Ram Bahadur Thapa Magar.

The faction also concluded that "external forces" were at play in dissolving the Constituent Assembly.

The meeting also concluded that the political line of Dahal and Bhattarai -- peace and constitution - has failed.

"They [Dahal, Bhattarai, NC and UML] wanted to bring a reactionary constitution but we countered them," the participant quoted Gurung as saying in the meeting.

The participants had asked party general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa about the faction´s possible move in the changed political context. In response, Thapa told them that they are yet to take a decision as the president is yet to clarify his stance on the prime minister´s announcement of a new election date.

At the meeting, Baidya urged the participants to move ahead by reviewing past mistakes and directed the former lawmakers to return to their constituencies.
Dahal asks former party lawmakers to return to districts

Meanwhile, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday directed former party lawmakers to return to their respective constituencies and tell people why the Constituent Assembly failed to promulgate the new constitution.

He also directed them to work diligently so that the party would gather two-thirds majority in the November 22 election.

"Chairman directed us to go back to our working areas and to tell people clearly why we could not draft the constitution," said former lawmaker Renu Chand after the meeting held at Maoist headquarters´ at Paris Danda in Kathmandu.

According to another former lawmaker Kamala Roka Magar, Dahal told them that it was high time for the party leaders to work for party unity.