KATHMANDU, August 1

Nepali Congress Vice President Ramchandra Paudel on Saturday told a joint meeting of the party’s Central Committee and Parliamentary Party that CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli had made u-turns on some constitutional issues without sticking to the past commitments of ruling parties.

According to an NC CC member, Paudel said that of late, Oli appeared to be in a hurry to become prime minister. “Oli backs our agenda for a while and when he holds one-on-one talks with other leaders, he changes his stance,” the source quoted Paudel. Paudel said Oli had assured initially that he would support NC’s agenda of incorporating pluralism in the Preamble of the constitution but later he backed out. “Publicly the UML and UCPN-M leaders say they will address public feedback on religion, but when theysit for talks with us, they want the language of the draft on religion  (secularism) unchanged,” the source quoted Paudel.

Party General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula proposed in the CC meeting that the conventions of the lower committees of the party be changed keeping in mind the Constituent Assembly’s preparations to promulgate the constitution by mid-August.

NC CC member Bal Krishna Khand said he told the CC meeting that the party should not haphazardly reschedule lower committees’ conventions for it could affect the party’s General Conventions.

“As per the Interim Constitution, the party’s statute and election laws, we cannot extend the term of our office bearers beyond third week of September,” Khand said. According to Khand, Sitaula then told the meeting that the

NC had already told other parties that if the constitution was not promulgated by mid-August, then the NC would focus on its General Convention and the constitution making process could get pushed slightly further.

To allay the fear of some lawmakers who doubted that the GC could be deferred again, Sitaula said that if the GC was not held as scheduled, he would resign from the post of General Secretary, according to Khand.

NC lawmaker Bimalendra Nidhi said he demanded that the new constitution be promulgated only after settling the boundaries of federal units and the word ‘federalism’ should be mentioned in the definition of state clause.  Nidhi also demanded that pluralism be mentioned in the Preamble of the constitution and Parliamentary forms of governance should be ensured. Nidhi demanded that Article 282 which bars naturalised citizens and citizens by birth from holding constitutional posts be dropped from the draft.

CC member Shankar Bhandari demanded that the country be declared a Hindu state in the new constitution.

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• NC reschedules lower committees’ conventions

Nepali Congress President and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala proposed at a separate CC meeting that disciplinary action against NC lawmaker Amresh Kumar Singh be initiated for ‘his secessionist remarks’.

NC CC member Krishna Chandra Nepali said party President Koirala himself told the CC meeting that he received complaints from various leaders about Singh’s objectionable statements and he wanted the party to decide how the issue should be dealt with. According to Nepali, the CC then decided that Chief Whip Chin Kaji Shrestha should seek clarification from Singh on the matter as suggested by some CC members.

Singh told THT that none of the party leaders had informed him of any action. “I am with the people and fighting for Madhesi rights and my struggle is in the interest of the party,” he added.