Dr. Baburam Bhattarai Stays On-Part II

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

“PM Bhattarai’s government could be extended till May 28 if he dared to take revolutionary steps to conclude peace process,” Senior CPN-UML leader and Former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal told the reporters during the interaction held by Reporters Club here (Kathmandu), the news posted on ‘The Himalayan Times’ on March 12, 2012 says. Madhav Nepal talks as a kingmaker but not only he has no people’s mandate but also his party. Voters had rejected him not only at one constituency in Kathmandu but also in another constituency in his home district called Siraha. Even if he has the people’s mandate he could not make or break a government, as his CPN-UML is only the third largest party in the parliament. He had been a freak prime minister for about 20 months riding on the shoulders of the NC leaders but he could not be grateful to the NC leaders. In fact, Madhav Nepal could take the office of prime minister because of the faulty approach of Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda to the political problems because Prachanda made Madhav Nepal the chairman of the Constitutional Committee without ascertaining the result of making such a shady person as the chairman of such a responsible office. One of the sincere CPN-UML members of the Constituent Assembly was forced to quit the office for making room for Madhav Nepal to get appointed to the member of the Constituent Assembly. Immediately after Prachanda quitting the office of prime minister, NC and CPN-UML elected Madhav Nepal to the office of Prime Minister insulting the people’s mandate and going against the people’s aspirations for good governance. As the then-Deputy Prime Minister, Madhav Nepal had been very smart to order his Minister for Agriculture CP Mainali in 1995 to upload Rs 20 million in his bank account from the budget of the Minister for Agriculture but the sincere minister publicly said that he refused to do so. Maybe, for that reason, CP Mainali had to leave the CPN-UML and form a small party of his own. Madhav Nepal applied for the office of prime minister stating he was the most qualified person when the then Gyanendra Shah as the head of state called for the applications from the eligible persons for the office of prime minister in 2004 but unfortunately somebody got the office of the prime minister not Madhav Nepal.  As the second prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in 2009, Madhav Nepal (Madhav’s family name is Nepal, too) has reversed almost all the most reasonable and good decisions made by the government of Prachanda. He grabbed everything possible to fill up his bank accounts even though he had recently said that he had not taken anything and let the state anti-corruption agency called Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) take a look at his assets. He is a smart guy so he would not leave any clues behind so he dared to challenge CIAA to investigate his assets but common folks would not believe in what he said. He is a man of tricks he plays every possible tricks on leaders to make him a most important person but he could not do so to the voters. He made a lot of money letting his Home Minister Bhim Rawal to hire 16,000 additional police to the Nepal Police. Anybody could imagine how many millions even billions of rupees required for buying the uniforms, boots and so for these 16,000 police. In Nepal, everybody knows that ministers and prime minister make huge money out of such a purchase. So, nobody would believe in what he said that he had not made any money out of it. He took the whole cabinet to the mountain called Kalapathar near the Mount Everest to hold a cabinet meeting on environment. His Minister for Forest and Environment said that the government did not spend even a dime but the private companies had paid for it. Nobody believes such announcement of such shady ministers in Nepal. Through his Defense Minister, Madhav Nepal promoted the army commander allegedly involved in the enforced disappearance of a number of people to the second-in-command of the Nepal Army, and he did not submit another Nepal Army major wanted by the Kavre District Court for killing a teenager going against the demand of national and international human rights organizations for surrendering these allegedly criminals to the Courts of law. Madhav Nepal did nothing to complete the peace process and the constitution writing during his 20-month term of office. However, he did manage to publish volumes of his speeches at the cost of the office of prime minister. His cabinet members were the most corrupt politicians of the past and present generations. Perhaps, a few people believe in what he says.

On Saturday, March 17, 2012, some members of the UCPN-Maoist led by Secretary to UCPN-Maoist CP Gajurel held a press conference at the Radisson Hotel in Kathmandu to publicly demand the ouster of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai from the office of prime minister saying the government led by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has been anti-national. Secretary Gajurel has said that Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda had promised to do away with the current government in a week but he did not do so even after a month has passed since he made such a promise and finally Prachanda said that he could not do so. So, Secretary Gajurel said that he held the press conference to give the prime minister an ultimatum to step down from the office within a week otherwise they would launch a street protest against the prime minister. However, Vice-chairman of UCPN-Maoist Mohan Vaidya Kiran and another Secretary to UCPN-Maoist Ram Bahadur Thopa Badal did not show up at the press conference indicating the possibility of they were not in favor of such drastic approach to the current government of another Vice-chairman of UCPN-Maoist Dr. Baburam Bhattarai or they were out of the Kathmandu Valley. At the same time, Vice-chairman Kiran said that he was not seeking the office of prime minister. He might be telling the truth because he quit the office of the member of the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament for wholly engaging in the party affairs but he had been advocating for the current prime minister leaving the office. However, the reasons given for the prime minister quitting the office were not so convincing. He had said that Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai had started the army integration surrendering everything to the opposition parties, which was not convincing at all. You should not keep the Maoist combatants and their weapons, too if the combatants were to be integrated. Once, Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said that the high offices of army were not the bottom line to the army integration. Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda also had said in the same line. Once Secretary Gajurel sarcastically said that if Prachanda had continued to be the Commander of the Maoists he would have received the position of major in the Nepal Army. That might be the reasons for delay in the full army integration, and the prime minister and the Maoist Chief had to negotiate with the leaders of other political parties particularly the NC and CPN-UML for the office of different level of Nepal Army ranks to the Maoists’ commanders. NC and CPN-UML leaders have reiterated to continue the army integration following the seven-point agreement they have signed with Maoist on November 1, 2011. That agreement does not say anything about the ranks of the Nepal Army the Maoists’ commanders would get. However, recently, President of NC Sushil Koirala said in public that he would accept the rank up to the position of colonel to the Maoists’ commanders while Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal in public, too said that he would accept only up to the major to the Maoists’ commanders. The Maoists are not for back tracking from their demand for the ranks of up to brigadier general. That might be one of the reasons for moving the peace process so slowly to the completion. Once Secretary CP Gajurel has said that the UCPN-Maoist has lost many things such as the revolutionary council, Maoists’ local governments and Maoists’ people’s courts and so on but it has not gained anything. However, he has ignored or not realized that currently the Maoists have everything including the state power. Vice-chairman Mohan Vaidya Kiran and Secretary CP Gajurel were landed in the Indian jail when they attempted to fly to the Scandinavian countries in false passports from the southern Indian city called Chennai. They had a program on mobilizing resources and public opinions in the Scandinavian countries. Only after Prachanda became the first prime minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in 2008, the Indian government released them from the prison at the request of Prachanda. Answering the question of reporters how the Indian government had treated him, CP Gajurel said, “as the terrorist.” Demanding the resignation of the prime minister of his own party what really CP Gajurel as the secretary to the UCPN-Maoist wants to do with it is not so clear to the people that have no access to the UCPN-Maoist. Vice-chairman Kiran has said that he wants to form a government acceptable to all political parties even led by the NC but Gajurel has said that he is talking to the NC and the CPN-UML folks concerning the formation of a new government. These two guys Kiran and Gajurel would be better off to go to the parliament and table a no-confidence motion against Dr. Bhattarai and remove him from the office and make a new government rather than threatening the government to launch a street protest means giving troubles to common folks. Nepalis are not for supporting any street movements; so, Kiran and Gajurel need to respect the people’s sentiment and do something else to tear down the current government rather than resorting to the street protest going against the people’s will.

At the same time, speaking at the public interaction program in Kathmandu, the political advisor to Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has made it clear that the prime minister is not going to leave the office until a consensus is built on forming a new government or they table a no-confidence motion against him in the parliament and pass it. The Prime minister’s advisor also has criticized these guys for seeking the resignation of the prime minister of their own party have been irresponsible to the country and have demonstrated their immaturity in the politics; in addition, these guys calling the current government anti-national have said nothing but nonsense; seeking the prime minister’s resignation from the streets, they are pushing the country to the conflict. The last sentence makes amply clear that Dr. Bhattarai is ready to fight against these guys.

Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has instructed his ministers and secretaries to ministries strictly following the rule of law on Sunday, March 18, 2012. Recently, some ministers have roughed up their staffs and staffs of the departments under them. These ministers would have immediately quit the offices after they have come to senses in the countries of the civilized system of governance but in Nepal they think that it is a business as usual.

‘The Himalayan Times’ of March 19, 2012 writes ‘A day after misbehaving with doctors and media persons at the emergency ward of Bir Hospital in a drunken state, Minister of State for Health Saroj Yadav became the talk of the town on March 19, 2012.’ Obviously, Minister of State for Health Yadav has behaved very roughly provoking the strong protest from the staffs of the hospital. The medical staffs have demanded the prime minister firing the minister for his misbehavior. However, the prime minister has stopped short of firing the minister because the minister is the part of his delicate coalition government. Most probably, the prime minister does not want to touch the member of the delicate coalition government to upset the balance. However, the medical staffs are not willing to leave the minister and the prime minister in peace for that matter until either the minister apologizes to them for the misbehavior publicly or the prime minister fires him from the job. Nepal Medical Association has urged the government to hold an investigation into the incident and take a strong legal action against the minister otherwise it would launch a protest. Health Professional Organization of Nepal, Nepal Health Workers’ Association, National Health Workers’ Association, All Nepal Health Progressive Health Workers’ Organization and Nepal Health Technical Association also have condemned the minister on his deplorable act and sought actions against him; the Federation of Nepali Journalists also has condemned Minister Yadav on his rowdy behavior toward the reporters, ‘The Himalayan Times’ writes. Certainly, Minister of State for Health Yadav has lost the legitimacy to stay on in the office but in Nepal most of the ministers are with the criminal background. So, it would not be surprise if the minister continues in his office with impunity.

Similarly, Minister for Irrigation Mahendra Prasad Yadav has misbehaved with the woman secretary to his ministry Mrs. Brinda Hada chiding her at the office provoking strong reaction from the women lawmakers to the rude behavior of the minister toward such a woman of the high office. Mrs. Hada is one of a few women Nepalese bureaucrats that have achieved such a highest office in the government. To insult such a highest woman officer in the Nepalese bureaucracy in front of all is certainly a public offense. Such a minister should not have any place in the government. Again the current political transitional period has much to do for making such rough politicians as the ministers able to get away from the offenses with impunity even if the public outcry were high against the offenses of such ministers. A meeting of women lawmakers held in Kathmandu on Monday, March 19, 2012 has concluded that the abusive language of the minister used to chide Secretary Hada is the worst sort of extremism and expressed serious objection to such use of abusive language, ‘The Himalayan Times’ of March 19, 2012 writes.

How much the commitment of Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai to follow the rule of law, and to end impunity would be realistic remains to be seen. Even though Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai is for enforcing the rule of law but it has not come true when he has to deal with the ministers of other coalition partners and leaders of his own party that are not for following the rule of law but for committing any kinds of offenses with impunity. For example, the Supreme Court of Nepal has convicted UCPN-Maoist lawmaker Balkrishna Dhungel of murder, he is supposed to be serving the jail sentence following the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal but Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai not only has not been able to put him in a jail but also has been unable to get him fired from the office of the lawmaker.

Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has faced the opposition of anything he has done. For example, Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai has legalized the property transactions done by the revolutionary council of the Maoists. His Minister for Land Reform has submitted a proposal for making the decision on legalizing all the decisions made by the revolutionary council of the Maoists to the prime minister. The prime minister and the minister for land reform sat together and made a decision on legalizing all the decisions made by the revolutionary council of the Maoists provoking a strong opposition not only from the opposition parties but also from some factions of the UDMF: the coalition partner in the current government. This decision was called the cabinet decision even though only the prime minister and his minister for land reform were present in the cabinet meeting for making this decision. The decision has pleased only the Vaidya faction of the UCPN-Maoist. Vice-chairman of UCPN-Maoist Mohan Vaidya Kiran has been leading a strong faction of the UCPN-Maoist. The Nepalese media have labeled the faction of Vaidya as a hardliner. Vaidya’s lieutenant CP Gajurel has said that the only one good thing the current government has done is the legalizing the revolutionary council’s decisions on property transactions. One of the Nepalese lawyers has taken this case of legalizing property transactions to the Supreme Court of Nepal but the apex court has to make ruling on this case, yet. The opposition parties have come out strongly against the government’s decision on legalizing the property transactions done by the revolutionary council of the Maoists. Most of the land grabbed by the Maoists during the 10-year conflict belonged to the leaders of the opposition parties such as NC and CPN-UML. They have threatened to take the issue to the streets forcing the prime minister to go to the parliament and tell the parliament that he is not enforcing this decision. The prime minister must have shelved the decision but has not annulled it, yet. Another decision made by the prime minister on removing the statue of Tribhuvan from the Sahidgate in Kathmandu to a museum has provoked a strong protest from the opposition party particularly NC. Tribhuvan is the symbol of a killer, as he authorized the then-Rana prime minister to enforce the death sentences given to the four brave men such as Sukraraj Shastrai, Dharmabhakta Mathema, Dashratha Chand and Gangalal Shrestha. Ironically, the statues of these four martyrs are just below the statue of Tribhuvan. Some experts believe that the statue of Tribhuvan should not be above the martyrs, as it is insulting to the brave sons of the country. The opposition leaders particularly the NC leaders came out strongly against moving the statue of Tribhuvan out of the Sahidgate. Consequently, the decision also has been shelved. After the election of Dr. Bhattarai to the office of prime minister in September 2011, his Minister for Energy Post Bahadur Bogati has proposed to build a 200MW thermal plant for generating power to mitigate the short supply of power but the opposition has come out against it again, and has not allowed the government of Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai build it. When Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda was a prime minister in 2008, he had proposed to build a thermal plant of the same capacity but one of the then-members of his coalition government the CPN-UML had strongly opposed it stating the power cost would be very high but the members of the CPN-UML opposing this power plant never had been wise enough to think of the economic losses Nepalis had been bearing due to the short supply of power. Nepalis had been losing millions if not billions of rupees worth of business opportunities due to the power outage every day. The government of Prime Minister Bhattarai has signed off a deal with the Chinese company called China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC) on February 29, 2012 for financing and constructing the 750MW West Seti Hydropower Project again the opposition lawmakers particularly Gagan Thapa and Laxman Ghimire have opposed it but the government is committed to build the power project. However, the recent news in the Nepalese and international media have it that the Chinese company CTGC has written to the Government of Nepal stating the doubt enforcing the deal, stating the work on this project has to be suspended pending the outcome of the Nepalese Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resource holding an investigation into the possible irregularities in the deal. If the Nepalese parliamentarians are wise enough they would never oppose any power projects at any cost, as the power supply would create several times worth of more business opportunities than the cost of production of power. Unfortunately, Nepalis have elected the economically illiterate people to the parliament. As long as these guys would be in the parliament, Nepalis might need to live in darkness and lose billions of rupees worth of business opportunities. On March 19, 2012, ‘HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE’ reported, “The Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources is finding it hard to take a final decision on 750-MW West Seti Hydro Project. At the meeting, most of the members of the committee today tried to prove that they wanted implementation of the project and said their decision taken 10 days ago wasn’t meant to create hurdles. Constituent Assembly (parliament) member Laxman Ghimire dominated the meeting, giving the impression that he was chairing it. Sitting on the side of the chair of the meet Shanta Chaudhary, Ghimire took hold of the mike and tried to defend opinions of other lawmakers. Ghimire was against the government’s decision to let China Three Gorges Corporation develop West Seti and said the joint secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Arjun Karki, is presenting himself as a local agent of the company giving the suspicion of irregularities. However, some other members said, “Our decision to stop the work was wrong. We could have investigated the project without halting the regular work mentioned in the MoU signed three months ago,” said another member Dharma Raj BK.” Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has faced a strong opposition from the NC lawmakers to the widening of the roads in Kathmandu. NC lawmaker Narahari Acharya went to stand in the way of bulldozer tearing down the houses built encroaching on the roads but the police took him under custody for a day to let the bulldozer do its work. However, the government has been continuing the widening of the roads thanks to the stamina of Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hridayesh Tripathi and Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai to continue the work in the face of the strong opposition from the NC lawmakers. Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has successfully reduced the number of Maoist combatants (People’s Liberation Army the Maoist called them) living in cantonments from 19,000 to 9,500 sending the combatants opting for voluntary retirement to home. These 9,500 combatants have wished for continuing their service in the Nepal Army. However, the four major power centers such as UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and UDMF have agreed in their seven-point deal singed off on November 01, 2011 on the number of combatants to be integrated is 6,500. UCPN-Maoist leaders are for integrating all of them to the Nepal Army but the opposition particularly the NC leaders have taken the stand on sticking to the number they have agreed on the seven-point deal. This has been one of the reasons for the delay in the army integration. Other reasons are the UCPN-Maoist wants the ranks of brigadier general to their combatants but President of NC Sushil Koirala has agreed on giving the rank of up to colonel but chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal is only up to major in the Nepal Army. Negotiations have been going on among them to come to an agreeable number of combatants sending to the Nepal Army and giving various ranks to their commanders in the Nepal Army.

The irony is that the rebellious faction of the UCPN-Maoist has set up a Joint National People’s Struggle Committee (JNPSC) to fight against the UCPN-Maoist establishment. Secretary to UCPN-Maoist CP Gajurel heads this committee. This committee held a press conference at the Radisson hotel in Kathmandu on Saturday, March 17, 2012 to announce its protest programs as the part of a campaign for a pro-people constitution and dignified integration of the Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army, ‘The Rising Nepal’ of March 18, 2012 writes. At the press conference, hardliner Gajurel accused the UCPN-Maoist establishment of failing to implement the decisions taken at the last Central Committee meeting on a national unity government, organizational reshuffling and launching a movement for national independence. "The party needs to carry out protests as the peace process is in crisis, the PLA is being disarmed instead of having PLA combatants’ dignified integration and the government is making compromises in its national independence through anti-national agreements," Gajurel said. Gajurel informed the public at the press conference that the JNPSC was planning to hold talks with the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML: the main opposition parties to form a national government toppling the current government. He accused the top leaders of his party of not enforcing the decisions of the Central Committee and Standing Committee on the formation of a national consensus government. He said that the JNPSC would put pressure on the current government from the street, the parliament and the party to quit, as its activities had been against the interests of the nation and the people. In a bid to topple the current government led by his own party Vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Gajurel disclosed the five-point protest programs. The Maoist hardliner faction came up with the 20-point issues of the pro-people constitution, rights of self-decision, state organs, and the forms of governance to be incorporated in a new constitution. The JNPSC has not set the date for launching the protest but gave the current government a week to quit the office, ‘The Rising Nepal’ writes.

The Vaidya faction of UCPN-Maoist in cooperation with leaders of 12 small political parties including hardliners such as Matrika Yadav and Mani Thapa formed a Joint National People’s Revolution Committee Nepal (JNPRCN), and announced a joint protest program demanding the ouster of the current government. The newly formed JNPRCN announced its protest program to achieve its agenda of peace, people’s federal republic, nationality and people’s livelihood. At the press conference held in Kathmandu on March 23, 2012, Secretary to UCPN-Maoist CP Gajurel acting as the coordinator of the committee has announced that the first phase of the protests lasting until April 12, 2012 are for putting pressure on the government to complete the peace process and constitution writing process within the deadline. Stating the need for uniting all political parties and related bodies to promulgate a new constitution, he said, "Unity among the parties alone could guarantee peace, constitution, nationality and people’s livelihood," ‘The Rising Nepal’ of March 24, 2012 writes. However, Secretary Gajurel unknowingly contradicts his speech with his deeds, as his current activities have been breaking away from the UCPN-Maoist. Secretary Gajurel said that the committee would expose unequal treaties, external interferences, inequitable agreements on water resources and corrupted and anti-nationalist personalities advocating the rights to self-determination, self-governance, and secularism. The eleven parties that joined hands with the Vaidya faction of UCPN-Maoist are CPN-Maoist, Newa Rastriya Party, Federal Democratic National Forum, Nepal Nagarik Party, Rastriya Janamukti Party, Tamsaling Rastriya Party, Janamukti Party Nepal, Tharu Mukti Sangram, Indigenous Nepal Federation, United Indigenous Nepal Federation and Smajbadi Jatiya Mahasangh. The program includes collection of signature in all 240 electoral constituencies, wall painting, and submitting memorandum to the Constituent Assembly members asking them to stand for the people’s federal, democratic and republic constitution among others. Similarly, the front will also conduct seminars in all election constituencies, stage torch rallies against anti-nationalism, corruption, price hike, black marketing, and criminal activities along with demonstration inside and outside of the Constituent Assembly, ‘The Himalayan Times’ of March 23, 2012 writes.

On March 17, 2012, HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE reports ‘A pretext to announce split’: “Commenting on Saturday’s development, politburo member close to Dahal (Prachanda), Haribol Gajurel said the hardliners are seeking action from the party establishment so as to announce a split formally. He said the announcement that they would join hands with opponents to fight against their party leaders meant denouncing the party’s system. He also said they had already announced the Kupandole-based party office as their contact office. The government and party establishment are expected to react. He also said Dahal (Prachanda) had supported Bhattarai’s government because of their recommendation. Gajurel further said that the party had called its central committee meeting on Monday (March 19, 2012), which the hardliners would boycott. “We will discuss the latest developments in the CC meeting and come up with a decision,” he said adding that if they tried to register a no-confidence motion, the party would not keep mum.” In fact, Vice-chairman of UCPN-Maoist Vaidya rejected the call of Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda for a Central Committee meeting to discuss all the issues in question.

Talking to a select group of reporters at his Lazimpat residence in Kathmandu on March 22, 2012, Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda said that he did not want to run the risk of plunging the country into crisis forcing Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai to step down, and his party would carry forward two programs simultaneously without announcing formal split of the party even though the party was virtually divided into two camps, ‘The Himalayan Times’ on its online news writes on March 22, 2012. Countering the claim of the Vaidya faction for making a decision on Prime Minister Bhattarai quitting the office in the Central Committee meeting of his party, Prachanda said that the latest Central Committee meeting had not made any decision on asking Bhattarai to step down, but instead had made a decision on forming a national unity government for which he has been making efforts. “Other parties have been rigid on forming a unity government. They could have taken such a tough stance, maybe, because they wanted to create rift in our party,” said Prachanda, ‘The Himalayan Times’ writes. Prachanda charged the Vaidya faction with supporting the people that have been sabotaging the peace process and constitution writing. “Fearing action of majority of CC members, they have announced not to attend the meeting, which is the only supreme body of the party where we discuss and find solutions to all the problems,” said Prachanda, ‘The Himalayan Times’ writes. “I am for concluding the peace process even by taking a chance otherwise the country will plunge into crisis; as soon as the peace process is concluded, the parties will feel the pressure to focus on drafting of the constitution,” Prachanda said, ‘The Himalayan Times’ quotes. “Our party will not leave the agenda of federalism on the basis of identity and the party has not changed its earlier stance that the number of federal states should be 14. However, we can consider slight changes if parties agree on federalism on the basis of identity,” said Prachanda, “If we give up the agenda of federalism on the basis of identity, the party will suffer. We are against referendum on federalism or a brief constitution. We don’t support the idea of a constitution without federalism as well,” according to the news on the online ‘The Himalayan Times’ of March 22, 2012.

Speaking at the meeting of the Constitutional Committee held at Singha Durbar on March 23, 2012, Chairman of UCPN- Maoist Prachanda acting as the Coordinator of Disputes Resolution Sub-committee has said that the report of the State Restructuring Commission (SRC) would be sent to the Constituent Assembly (CA) and to the Constitutional Committee simultaneously for discussion following a consensus on it. Chairman of Constitutional Committee Nilambar Acharya has suggested that the leaders should take initiatives to build a consensus on the disputed issues of a new constitution. At the meeting, Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Sub-committee Coordinator Prachanda requested leaders of other parties for moving the constitution drafting process forward, as the peace process was moving ahead but Nepali Congress and CPN-UML leaders insisted that the constitution making could not move ahead until the army integration process was completed, ‘The Rising Nepal’ of March 24, 2012 writes.