CA should address people’s voices, issue of monarchy, says Oli

Kathmandu, November 27:

CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal today accused the Nepali Congress leadership of trying to “take all credit for the political development” and overlooking the UML’s contribution in making the peace process a success by bringing the Maoists to the mainstream politics.

“The UML’s contribution in the signing of the historic agreement has been overlooked,” Nepal told UML lawmakers at a parliamentary party meeting in Singha Durbar today.

Nepal reminded UML lawmakers about the Siliguri, Lucknow, Rolpa and Delhi meetings with the Maoists where they had held “wide discussions”.

He stressed the need for making a guideline for the smooth functioning of the government before the formation of an interim government.

The UML strongman also stressed the “equal distribution” of portfolios in the interim government saying that neither the to-be formed parliament nor the interim government were “private property” of anybody.

Saying that referendum would be the best way out to establish a democratic republic, he asked the lawmakers to put more efforts towards making constituent assembly elections a success. He also expressed the hope that the party’s stance on the formation of a republican front would yield a fruitful outcome.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs KP Sharma Oli today

said the constituent assembly should be planned and carried out in such a manner that it

addresses the people’s voices and aspirations, including the fate of monarchy.

“A decision on the institution of monarchy has to be made as per the aspiration of the people and the constituent assembly should be planned and carried out accordingly,” Oli said at a programme organised by the National Forum for Peace and Development, Nepal in Lalitpur today.

Saying that the Jana Andolan II is yet to gain its complete shape, deputy PM Oli said it has only opened doors towards a new Nepal. “Unless the rights of backward communities, Dalits, Janajatis, people below the poverty line and others are addressed and the disparities are narrowed down, Jana Andolan II cannot be complete,” he said, adding that the 1990 popular

movement had failed to address these issues. “Now the prevailing disparities in the Nepali society must end,” he added.

Member of Parliament and leader of Janamorcha Nepal, Pari Thapa, said establishment of a democratic republic can only address the people’s aspirations.

Member of Parliament Prakash Jwala emphatically said that monarchy which has been the “root-cause of all disparities” should be uprooted.

“The government should have the courage to distribute the land belonging to the king to the poor and landless people so that people will taste the real fruits of democracy,” he said.

The National Forum for Peace and Development, Nepal, a network of four

different organisations, including the Private and Boarding Schools Organisation, Nepal (PABSON) in its declaration documents of the seminars organised in eight different districts of the country has suggested establishment of a republican set-up through elections to constituent assembly, decentralisation of governance, equal participation of women at all levels of the state, a corruption-free administration structure, emphasis on technical and vocational education, among others.