NC signature campaign for CA reinstatement

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Over two-thirds majority of former Constituent Assembly members of the Nepali Congress are preparing to submit a memorandum to party president Sushil Koirala tomorrow pressing the party to make the reinstatement of the CA the party’s official position for clearing the constitutional and political deadlock.

“We have collected signatures of 75 former CA members from the party today and will submit the signatures to our party president tomorrow,” said former CA member Mohan Prasad Pande after the gathering of the former lawmakers held in Singha Durbar today.

There are other senior leaders including Sher Bahadur Deuba, Gopal Man Shrestha and Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, who have publicly said that the CA’s reinstatement was the only solution to clear the deadlock, and they have not been included in the list of signatures.

The memorandum will be submitted to senior leader Deuba and vice president Ram Chandra Paudel too.

Pande said apart from these signatories – 75 members – there are many more who support the CA reinstatement. The Congress has 114 CA members.

“The CA should be reinstated through consensus among the political parties to accomplish the remaining tasks of the CA and promulgate the new constitution from the people-elected body. As there is no way to amend the interim constitution for fresh polls CA’s reinstatement is the only alternative left to clear the crisis in a legitimate way,” Pande said.

Stating that the CA, which was formed after the six decades long aspiration of the people, the former lawmakers said that the reinstatement of the CA, which doubles as the Legislature Parliament, should be given short period only for the promulgation of the new constitution and amend the interim constitution for fresh parliamentary polls.

“Major parties should forge consensus on the unsettled issues of the new constitution prior to the reinstatement and the reinstated CA can promulgate the new constitution and the parliament can amend the constitution to make the fresh parliamentary elections constitutional and legitimate,” Pande added.

He went on to say that CA is the only legal body to amend the constitution and the body could be reinstated through a political decision.

The President can declare the reinstatement of the CA on the recommendation of a national consensus government according to the former CA members.

Meanwhile, an 11-member committee headed by party’s Central Working Committee member Bhim Bahadur Tamang today discussed with the party’s indigenous leaders on the demand of single identity based federalism at the party headquarters.

“We discussed the issues raised by the party’s indigenous leaders and we will present a unified view about federalism and suggest the party’s central committee,” said committee member Mahesh Acharya. The party’s CWC had formed the committee to address the demands of the party’s indigenous members.