Discusses FSU polls, local bodies’ revival

Kathmandu, February 3:

The coordination committee meeting of the Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) today started discussions on the implementation of the 23-point agreement reached on December 23, possibility of postponement of Free Students’ Union (FSU) election and revival of the

local bodies.

“We have started discussions on the implementation of the 23-point agreement, possibility of postponement of free students’ union election and local bodies’ issues,” said Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel at the end of the meeting held at the Maoists’ party office, Buddhanagar.

The SPA leaders would resume their meeting tomorrow morning. Poudel said they had entered the agenda and would discuss it clausewise tomorrow.

The Maoist leadership is learnt to have proposed the postponement of the FSU election, arguing that it would spoil the conducive environment that has been created for the constituent assembly polls.

“But we are in favour of holding the FSU election as it would, in no way, spoil the environment created for the assembly polls,” said Jhala Nath Khanal, who was also present at the SPA meeting. However, Nepali Congress leaders who took part in the meeting were indecisive on the issue, said another UML leader.

The issue of reviving the local bodies also figured in today’s meeting, but no decision could be reached on the matter due to the UML’s objection to Local Development Minister Dev Gurung’s plan of running the bodies based on a joint mechanism of the SPA.

The UML, which won a two-thirds majority in the 2054 BS local election, is insisting that the local bodies must be revived on the principle adopted while creating the interim parliament, which was done according to the strength of the 1999 general election.

“It is not possible to run the local bodies under a joint mechanism of the seven-party alliance considering the Election Commission’s code of conduct, which does not allow the local bodies to carry out new development works till the assembly election,” said UML leader Rajendra Pandey, a former local development minister, who was also present during the meeting.

The SPA had formed a task force headed by Local Development Minister Gurung to suggest a way to run the local bodies. Bu the task force referred the issue back to the SPA coordination committee after it failed to reach a consensus on the issue.

Asked about the formation of six commissions as agreed on the 23-point agreement, Khanal said they would be formed after discussions at the SPA-level.

A task force led by Minister Poudel is claimed to have completed terms of reference of the six commissions last week. All the issues, including the one related to returning property seized during the conflict, would also be discussed from tomorrow, said Poudel.