Kathmandu, May 5:

Minister for Information and Communications, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, today said that it would impossible to hold constituent assembly elections even in November if monarchy was not abolished.

“It will not be possible to hold CA polls even in coming October or November if the monarchy is not rooted out. The country’s history has taught us a lesson that the monarchy will never allow us to conduct the CA election, which was promised but aborted in 1957,” said Mahara, who is the spokesperson of both the government and the CPN-Maoist.

He made this remark while releasing two books: Brain Bomb: Raja Gyanendra Ko Mahabharat authored by former zonal commissioner Surya Bahadur Sen Oli, and Geo-Politics and Economy of Nepal authored by Zonden Ukyab at the Nepal Media Centre here.

He reiterated the party’s stance that a new basis of eight-party unity must be sought to maintain its unity. “The new basis of the eight-party unity is to declare the country a republic before the assembly polls,” he said adding that the CA poll could be deferred for a year or more once the monarchy is abolished.

Mahara went to the extent of saying that there were still some elements in all the parties, including the Maoists, who still wanted to keep monarchy in one or the other form. He, however, added that the Maoist leadership was free of such mindset. He expressed doubt over the continuity of the eight-party unity as some parties wanted to maintain status quo. He admitted that the government was not functioning at desired level due to political deadlock among the top leaders of the eight parties.