Kathmandu, December 9:

Chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Pashupati Shamshere Rana today called for unification of the RPP and the Rastriya Janashakti Party.

“I urge the RJP chairman to unite the parties. I will not leave any stone unturned to have the two nationalist parties united,” he said, addressing the fourth national convention of the party.

The RPP chairman said he wanted to hold a joint convention. “This convention is not going to hamper the unification process. Rather, we will have a platform to discuss this important issue. I request all the participants to provide the leadership a fresh mandate to take steps for unification,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rana criticised the seven-party government and said that the government is not doing anything except keeping the alliance intact. “The government neither has to run the state, nor does it have to provide security to the people. We expect them to come up with good results through meetings. Unfortunately, every alliance meeting concludes with an agreement to make another agreement,” he said.

Condemning the “autocratic nature” of the seven-party alliance, Rana urged the leaders of the alliance to listen to the people.He called for the representation of indigenous people, Madhesis, Dalits and women in state organs and said, “The country will plunge into another crisis if they are not given what they deserve.”

“The problem of Madhes is absolutely political,” he said, urging the government to “solve it politically.”

RJP chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa said that a new agreement should be made among democratic parties to avert another crisis.

RPP leader Lokendra Bahadur Chand said that the political crisis persists because the seven-party alliance holds the “licence” to rule the state. But the alliance has not developed a culture of working together and staying together, he said.

NC vice-chairman Gopal Man Shrestha said that the seven-party alliance as well as other political forces should work together to hold the constituent assembly polls on time.

“We are wasting time in unnecessary debates for 20 months. Had the polls been held in November, we could have decided the issue of formation of a republic by this time,” he said. UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari said.

Mahara echoes Prachanda line

KATHMANDU: Spokes-person for the CPN-Maoist Krishna Bahadur Mahara on Sunday reiterated the party’s strategy to forge an alliance with “nationalist” forces. Last week, Maoist MPs were criticised in the parliament due to the party chairman’s statement, which called for “forging an alliance with nationalist royalists.”

“This is the time for the nationalists and republicans to be united. We can create a new wave in politics if we are united. We can make agreements with all on this basis,” he said, addressing at the RPP convention on Sunday. He added that the definitions of nationalists should be changed and the way to look at them should be revisited to assimilate nationalists and republicans. — HNS