Presses parties to come up with a firm stance on the formation of a republic

Kathmandu, August 12:

CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda said today that they could walk out of the government and launch a peaceful agitation if the parties leading the government were not ready to declare the country a republic to foil the regressive forces’ conspiracies against the November 22 constituent assembly election.

“There is no alternative to launch a movement after quitting the government if the parties leading the government do not guarantee the declaration of a republic to foil conspiracies and terror of the regressive forces against assembly election,” Prachanda said in a statement issued to make public the decision of the recently concluded fifth expanded meeting of the party.

The theoretical, political and moral grounds to remain in the interim government are being diminished as the major political parties were trying to run the government in an old-fashioned manner, Prachanda said in the statement.

It has also set preconditions that the parties in the government must be ready to run the government according to the spirit of consensus, take action against the criminals involved in serial killings in Madhes, make public the cases of disappearances and provide compensation impartially to the families of martyrs, implement revolutionary land reforms for the party to remain in the government. The party has also sought a guarantee that murders, conspiracies and terror against the party must be stopped and the People’s Liberation Army must get respectful treatment.

Prachanda also accused the major parliamentary parties of breaking the spirit of 12-point understanding, comprehensive peace accord and interim government, which were the basis of unity with the CPN-Maoist.

“The soon-to-be-held eight-party meeting will decide whether the country will move towards the constituent assembly or towards agitation,” Prachanda said, replying to a query about the possibility of holding the constituent assembly election. He also warned that there would be a “big accident” in the country if the eight parties did not come up with a clear stance on the republic.

“We are still doubtful about the possibility of holding the constituent assembly election, as conspiracies are being hatched to isolate the revolutionary and republican forces,” he said, replying to yet another query.

He also made it clear that they were not making the issue of proportional representation system of election as a precondition for the assembly election. “We have simply made clear our position,” he said, adding that they had made the last-ditch efforts for the proportional representation system and federal system of governance “inside the room of Baluwatar.”

The statement distributed to the media has categorised the country’s political forces into groups, which include the royalists, status quoists, bourgeois parliamentary forces and revolutionary democratic forces. Country’s political conflict revolves around those forces, it said.

Party’s central committee meeting held following the conclusion of the fifth expanded meeting has formed three teams to hold roundtable conferences among the political forces, agitating groups and civil society, take initiative for reaching a unity among the leftist forces and prepare election manifesto for the upcoming assembly election and peaceful agitation. A three-member team headed by Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal) has been formed to hold a roundtable conference and another team led by Mohan Baidya (Kiran) to hold talks with leftist forces. An eight-member committee lead by Dr Baburam Bhattarai has been formed to draft the election manifesto.

The party also made public details of property belonging to each of the 35 central committee members. A copy of property details was made available to the media during the press conference.