Kapilvastu, December 8:

Former Prime Minister and senior leader of the Nepali Congress (NC) Sher Bahadur Deuba today said the country would be declared a republic only after constituent assembly polls.

Addressing a mass meeting organised by the Kapilvastu district committee of the party, Deuba said: “Only the people have the rights to take a decision on republic and only their vote can herald a republic in the country.”

Referring to Maoists’ proposals on republic and fully proportional electoral system, he said that the NC cannot support and implement the proposal for republic before CA polls, nor will it support an all-out proportional electoral system for the polls. The NC will yield not even an inch on matters related to people’s fundamental rights and nationalism, he said.

“The sooner the polls are held, the sooner will the country be declared a republic and the sooner will peace be restored,” he said. Deuba also stressed on the need for continued unity of the seven parties for this.

NC general secretary Ram Baran Yadav accused Maoist chairman Prachanda of supporting the royalists by labelling them nationalists.

Party central member Dr Shekhar Koirala said the NC has been treading on the path of a federal republic. “If we go to the fully proportional elections, there might be a split in the nation and people will be deprived of their fundamental rights,” he said.

Meanwhile, our correspondent in Nepalgunj reported CPN-UML Bam Dev Gautam as asking all not to misinterpret the recent statement of Maoist chairman Prachanda, in which he called for going ahead with genuine nationalists around the king.

Speaking at a press conference organised by the Banke chapter of Press Chautari Nepal, Gautam said: “I consider the statement of Prachanda the right one. He might have meant that those nationalists out of the seven parties should be included. If those persons, who were followers of the king, come to join hands with the seven parties by abandoning him, we can move ahead by including them.”

Terming the act of disobeying the proposals passed by a majority of the special session of the parliament ‘denial of supremacy of the parliament’, he said:

Stating that the government and the Nepali Congress have no option except to implement the proposals passed by the parliament, he said that the Nepali Congress could not reject the proposals easily due to moral and political pressure. Confusion is prevailing due to rigidity on the part of the Nepali Congress and the Maoists, he said.

Alliance unity must: Nembang:

DHANGADHI: Speaking after the inauguration ceremony of the Far West Nepal Mahotsav 2064 BS, Speaker of the House of Representatives Subas Chandra Nembang said on Saturday that there was no alternative, but to keep the seven-party alliance intact in order to hold the constituent assembly polls. “Only the alliance can steer the nation towards salvation and the people have high hopes of it,” said Nembang.

Stating that the seven parties were engaged in parleys to seek a solution to the political impasse, he said the demands for declaring the nation a republic and fully proportional CA polls had put the polls on hold. — HNS