Seeks party’s view on Tarai woes

Kathmandu, February 10:

A protracted central committee meeting of the CPN-UML concluded today, consolidating and passing general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal’s political proposal into 15-points and asking the standing committee to finalise the party’s stance on the Tarai problems and their solutions.

However, the meeting concluded that “one Madhes, one state,” which is one of the key demands of the Madhesi agitators, is inappropriate and not in the interest of the people of the region and the nation.

The federal states should be chalked out on the basis of the composition of the local communities, which could mean more than one states comprising parts of Tarai, Nepal said. The meeting also endorsed an economic plan submitted by Bharat Mohan Adhikari and inducted Bidhya Bhandari and Bhim Rawal on the party’s candidates’ list recommendation committee, headed by Amrit Kumar Bohara.

The party has decided to select candidates on the basis of their loyalty to the party, their contribution to the democratic movement and their popularity, Bohara said.

Another important decision that came out from the six-day meeting was directive issued by Nepal to entire rank and file to focus all their energy and resources towards the Constituent Assembly election.

“It is a national resolution to hold the election and institutionalise the federal democratic republic,” the central committee said. It has even appealed to the former party men and supporters, who were disengaged or inactive during the people’s movement due to various reasons, to rejoin the UML in the run-up to the crucial vote slated for April 10.

The UML central committee has decided to convene a two-day ‘broader national activists gathering’ from February 17 to take inputs from party’s tiers to plot an effective strategy for the election. “Our assessments have shown that the UML will emerge victorious in the upcoming election,” Nepal said. “It will be an overwhelming majority.”

The UML stalwart also clarified that the party was open for alliance with all “democratic republican forces” and not necessarily the Leftist parties alone.

The 17th meeting has asked the government to immediately improve the security situation to ensure a free and fair election and called upon all agitating groups to stall their agitation and hold dialogue with the government. Condemning the Maoists for still not being able to practise “political tolerance”, the meeting has called upon the former rebels to shun violent activities and to accept democratic norms and practices.

“I have also cautioned Prachanda that maintaining semi-military structures like YCL barracks will cost his party dear,” Nepal said, adding that the UML just cannot opt for an electoral alliance with the Maoists at places where excesses by their “spoiled cadres” to UML activists remain unchecked.

Nepal said, “We do not understand why the government led by Nepali Congress is giving full liberty to the Maoists to do whatever they want,” he complained. The UML central committee has also accused the government of not being serious on a sensitive issue, such as encroachment of the Nepali territory in Susta.

Voicing concern over the implication of acute load-shedding to the industrial establishments and commoners, it has urged the government to project the actual power need of the country, and not to commission mega hydropower projects on an ad hoc basis.

It has also charged the government with tarnishing its own image by making the people disenchanted by “irresponsibly” raising the prices of commodities time and again.