Kathmandu, January 19:

The CPN-UML is all set to make public its election manifesto following the party’s central committee (CC) meeting scheduled for February 5.

UML standing committee member and coordinator of a panel drafting the election manifesto Jhala Nath Khanal said they had almost finished its first draft after soliciting suggestions from people from different walks of life across the country.

He said the manifesto had proposed key elements to be incorporated in the federal, democratic and republican constitution and general economic and political outline of a new Nepal.

He said they had sought suggestions from political cadres, civil society, general public and the business community in Butwal, Pokhara, Birgunj, Biratnagar and Kathmandu before drafting the document. He said the manifesto would be made public only after the approval of the central committee.

Asked about the number of federal state the panel had suggested, Khanal said they were yet to finalise it as they were still soliciting suggestions from experts on federalism. He said they would record their suggestion on federal system of governance to the Recommendation Commission on Restructuring the State, which would be formed by the second week of February. Meanwhile, a delegation led by Khanal today met Speaker Subas Chandra Nembang at the latter’s office and discussed the issues related to the hardships facing labourers in tea estates and tea producers in Ilam and Jhapa.

According to Khanal, an agreement was reached last year between the tea estates concerned and the tea workers’ union. It was agreed that the workers would be paid Rs 95 a day. The Tea Development Corporation, however, reached a deal with the workers in many tea estates in Ilam and paid the labourers only Rs 80 a day.

Meanwhile, leader of the CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli claimed in Bhairahawa today that the Maoists “are trying to get close to the royalists”. “The Maoists have shown a paradoxical nature by cursing the Nepal Army (NA) and meeting senior generals of the NA in hotels,” he said.

Oli said the NA can be mobilised in the Tarai after an agreement among the parties to put an end to the Tarai unrest and hold the polls. Oli claimed that the Rayamajhi Commission had tried to save the king.