Gulmi, December 9:

“Going for a fully proportionate representation (PR) system for the election to constituent assembly, as demanded by the Maoists, would mean fragmentation of the nation,” Sher Bahadur Deuba, former prime minister and senior Nepali Congress leader, said today.

Addressing party cadres at Tamghas of Gulmi district, Deuba said that a small country like Nepal would be torn apart by the demands of various linguistic communities.

Ex-PM Deuba also urged Maoist chairman Prachanda to seek the popular mandate

at the earliest.

Deuba said CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda was apprehensive of facing the people and that was why he put a spanner in the November 22 constituent assembly election.

Stating that the country was in the grip of political uncertainty, Deuba said, “The political impasse and this uncertainty have to be dealt with immediately.”

Deuba accused Prachanda of paying lip service to people power and not wanting to face the people but instead trying to grab power through bargaining and wanting to impose his dictatorship.