Following the all party meeting on Friday, political parties are busy doing their homework for national consensus on “a long term strategy” to curb the violence unleashed by the Maoist terrorists and control the government from working in a “free hand” manner.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) chairman and former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa disclosed this on Saturday in an interaction programme hosted by his party’s sister association National Democratic Youth Organisation (NDYO) on the occasion of its birth anniversary.

“The country is going towards delicate situation and will need an extraordinary effort to tackle the situation. Not a single person or the party can solve it so the national consensus is the need of the hour,” he said adding, “A section is trying to seek solution beyond the Parliament but the constitutional norms cannot be ignored. People trying to forget it are desperate and wearisome to control the temptation of the adverse situation.” Thapa warned that political parties should remain in the parliamentary platform in this difficult situation. “If we loose this grip we are sure to fall flat.” “Some with their vested interest are taking a crack at the prime minister to mislead him that the consensus is for pulling his chair which is not true at all,” he said.

Nepali Congress party’s general secretary Sushil Koirala remarked that it was much harder to safeguard the achievements of democracy compared to staging movement to restore it. “My experience tells me that Maoist are launching the terror-show only to uproot the democracy,” he said. Refuting the charge made against his party by other speakers, he claimed, “It is true that my party has been in a ruling position for the longest period in last 12 years, but all parties have ruled the country within this time frame, so why not to share all the good and bad things together?”

Nepali Congress is a liberal democratic party, lack of discipline is also reflected here sometimes, and he claimed that this was a character of the party since its inception. “Still split in the party is a distant dream, if present consensus continues we are sure to overcome existing anomalies,” he said.

CPN-UML leader K P Sharma Oli said that unity among all parties in parliament was a must as the government was attempting to minimise the role of civil society and the parties with emergency as an excuse. “This is a dangerous sign and parties in the parliament should stand together against this stab.” Oli urged the party leaders to make the forthcoming session of the parliament “a unite effort to solve the crisis as the government alone was a perfect failure to deal with the national crisis.” “Let us prepare for that from now.”

RPP vice president Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani remarked that ruling parties after democracy established a culture of “dictatorship of the majority” where the consensus and balance had no rooms. “When this balance is disturbed, the democracy falls into crisis. Same thing has happened to us.” Lohani said that fight and dialogue could go together in democracy and same had to be tried to solve the crisis. “Democracy is not in danger because of the MaoistS or the Palace but due to the poor service delivery of the rulers,” he remarked.

Nepal Sadbhawana Party central committee member Sarita Giri maintained that the alliance between the parties would not bear any fruit until they rise from the existing “narrow politics.” We have to sort out the conflicts between the ruling party and the government, conflict among the different opposition parties and clarity on what the leaders have been heralding now, she said. “How practical is Girija Prasad Koirala’s claim of seeking solution from the parliament by sidestepping the government? How clear is Surya Bahadur Thapa’s argument of national consensus? And how sensible is Madhav Kumar Nepal’s challenge to the Maoist to come out of the jungle to contest election to win the power?” She asked.

Meanwhile, Surya Bahadur Thapa consoled her with his words to have a patience for a while as the journey had not started yet. “It is about to start and we are preparing for the logistic support. Let us not be sentimental,” he said.