Kirtipur, June 9:

The general secretary of the CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, today said the House of Representatives should be dissolved on reasonable grounds.

“The pros and cons of the issue needs to be studied first. It should be seen whether the new House of Representatives to be formed after the dissolution of the current one would be powerful and able to get recognition from the international community,” Nepal said.

He was addressing the seventh national conference of the Tribhuvan University Progressive Teachers’ Union.

Nepal also stressed the need of foreign assistance in the peace process.

UML general secretary Nepal, however, said there should be a limitation in the foreign mediation in the peace process in the country.

He further underscored the need to fix a timetable of constituent assembly elections.

A member of the Maoist talks team, Dinanath Sharma, attributed the delay in the second round of talks to the two parties’ differences over whether the country should opt for a republican set-up or ceremonial monarchy. “The House of Representatives has been made supreme and the peace process has taken a back seat,” Sharma said.

The chairman of the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, Narayan Man Bijukchhe, said there is a need of a political conference to discuss the present situation.

The Minister for Education and Sports, Dr Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, said the Maoists’ belief in multiparty democracy may come into question if they oppose the idea of reinstating the local bodies.

He said the government is planning to set up a National Education Commission to usher in reforms in the educational sector.

In the meeting, Bhupati Dhakal ‘Kamal’, the president of Nepal University Teachers Association (NUTA) demanded the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and Rector of the Mahendra Sanskrit University.