Maoists will win two-third seats in CA polls: Dahal

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: A day after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly after its failure to deliver the constitution, UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said his party will bag a two-third majority in the next CA elections slated for November 22.

While Dahal was saying this at the party establishment’s press meet at a hotel in Lazimpat, the party hardliners’ faction under party Vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya was busy in its central committee meeting at Kupondol.

Dahal blamed both Nepali Congress and CPN-UML for the dissolution of the CA and justified the government’s move to go for fresh CA elections in keeping with a Supreme Court order.

He also found time to comment on single identity-based federalism. Dahal branded all those, who have been accusing the Maoists of trying to create disharmony, as communal, saying they are the ones who are trying to create chaos.

“Many communities have been left behind for centuries. The government needs to take steps to empower them and make them equal with others. We wanted constitutional provisions that are friendly towards them,” he said.

Dahal said his party was for ensuring unity among the Nepali people by creating a new Nepal where no one is discriminated against. He claimed to have taken initiatives for constitutional recognition of the Khas-Aryas.

Dahal further said he had taken risk to complete the peace process, though he knew full well that other parties were not ready to deliver the constitution. The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, who claimed to give the new constitution in a week, didn’t even dare enter the CA Hall when we asked them to clarify their positions among CA members, he claimed.

Dahal, who was one of the leaders who took part in yesterday’s last-minute negotiations held to discuss the fate of the CA, said both he and NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba were for extending the CA’s term by declaring a state of emergency. He said other NC and UML leaders opposed the idea.

“Prime Minister even said he will take responsibility if emergency proves top be detrimental to the nation,” Dahal said. With the parties unwilling to give the CA another extension, the government had no option but to go for elections in keeping with the court order, he said. He went on to claim that NC, UML and the Baidhya faction of his party will join this government to turn it into a national consensus government.