Kathmandu, June 1:

The 11-point agreement reached yesterday among the eight-party alliance will “help bail the country out of current political deadlock and pave the way for constituent assembly polls,” central leader of the Nepali Congress, Dr Shekhar Koirala, said today.

Terming the agreement a major achievement, he said: “The commitment of the the five parties, which wrote separate notes of dissent, towards the conduct of CA polls will be judged by their acts in the days to come.”

“If the five parties act sincerely in the parliament, their notes of dissents will not affect the unity among us,” he said. “The CA polls will be held by mid-December if all parties in the alliance cooperate with the government as per commitments made in the 11-point agreement.”

Koirala, who is a close aide to the Prime Minister, said:

“Although the PM has a major responsibility to hold the polls, none of the parties can escape from their collective responsibility of holding the polls. “The PM had consulted the parties concerned on major issues before taking any decision,” he said.

Defending his party’s note of dissent over proportional representation in the CA polls, Bhim Rawal of the CPN-UML said all issues raised by the Madhesis, Janajatis, women and Dalits can be resolved through the proportional representation system.

Terming yesterday’s agreement “a major achievement,” Rawal expressed doubts whether it will be implemented effectively.

“On April 1, the parties agreed to form a mechanism to overcome difficulties that may crop up while running the government, but the mechanism has not been formed yet.”

“The PM should have explained to the nation why the CA polls cannot be held in June,” he said.

Janardan Sharma (Pravakar) of the CPN-Maoist said that none of the political parties would have written separate notes of dissents yesterday had the NC taken note of issues raised by other parties.

He said the agreement was made to enable the government to implement previous agreements.

“Why did the government not nationalise the King’s property and make public the Rayamajhi report though an agreement was reached on these issues?” he questioned.

Dr Minendra Rijal of the Nepali Congress-Democratic said, “The separate notes

of dissent written by the five parties yesterday showed that the NC, NC-D and the United Left Front were the only parties that were committed to holding the CA polls by mid-December.”

He said that the government will announce the date for CA polls once the parliament passes all the bills required to conduct the polls aimed at establishing a federal democratic republic.

Meanwhile, Chandra Dev Joshi, president of the CPN-United, a partner of the United Left Front, said in a statement today that the party also had reservations on the 11-point agreement though CP Mainali of the CPN-ML signed it.

“The CPN-United agrees with the 11-point agreement with a note of dissent,” Joshi said. “The parliament should declare a republic,” he said, adding that major parties were “to blame for not being able to hold CA polls in June.” Joshi said in the meeting that CP Mainali had no authority to represent the ULF in the eight-party meeting.