Tanahu, December 23:

Central member of the Nepali Congress Govinda Raj Joshi has said that the Maoists are coming in the way of polls as they did not let the constituent assembly polls happen on November 22, saying that the country would have already become a republic had the Maoists let the polls happen on time.

Addressing a regional gathering organised by the Constituency No 1 committee of the party in Dumre, Joshi said the NC and the country both have plunged into crisis after the party went against BP’s policy against joining hands with communists. He also spoke against integration of PLA soldiers into national army and labeled it as an unconstitutional move. “If the PLA soldiers are integrated into the national army now, the agitating groups in the Tarai will seek the same in the days to come,” Joshi said.

In the first gathering held after the party unification, party central member and former state minister Amar Raj Kaini said the decisions taken by the nominated members of the interim parliament cannot represent the people’s mandate and the parliament should do no more than holding the CA polls. By demanding a round table conference, Maoists have ignored the government and parliament, Kaini said.

General secretary of the Nepal Tarun Dal Pusparaj Parajuli, former president of Nepal Students’ Union Tej Prasad Pandit, party general convention members Ram Chandra Pokhrel, Krishna Gautam and Udayraj Gauli, among others, also accused the Maoists of being royalist at the core.