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A Fresh Hitch On Forming A New Government
By KTM Metro Reporter
February 18, 2013: The meeting scheduled to be held between President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav and three major parties, and the UDMF for Sunday was put on hold, as the eight-member taskforce formed on Saturay could not agree on the issues.
Speaking to the reporters at the Shital Niwas, NC vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel said that the four-party meeting could not be held, as the taskforce had not completed its job.
CPN-UML vice-chair Bamdev Gautam said that the meeting of the major parties would resume at 10 am on Monday after the taskforce finalized the issues to be included in the package deal.
UCPN-Maoist leader Amik Sherchan expressed his confidence that a package deal including the formation of an election government under the incumbent chief justice would be forged soon.
UDMF leader and taskforce member Hridayesh Tripathi said that the process of formulating a package deal was heading to a positive direction and that there would be fresh Constituent Assembly elections by May-end, according to the Gorkhapatraonline.com of today.
The NC central leaders yesterday asked the party leadership not to agree on the UCPN-Maoist proposal for appointing the serving chief justice to lead an election government. They argued that it would undermine the independence of judiciary, democracy and separation of power. At an informal meeting held at the residence of party president Sushil Koirala, they argued that forming a government under the leadership of the serving chief justice would be harmful. They demanded that the resignation of Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi before accepting the government leadership, according to the Gorkhapatraonline.com of today.
After the meeting, spokesperson for NC Dilendra Badu said that the CWC meeting of the party entrusted the responsibility to the top leaders for agreeing on only such decisions that would respect democracy, separation of power and independency of judiciary. NC President Koirala in turn briefed the leaders about the discussion held among the political parties.
“We have to go for elections, and, for that, the incumbent government must go,” spokesman Badu quoted Koirala as saying. NC President Koirala said that the party's preconditions were to appoint the chief justice as the prime minister without undermining the democratic norms and principles and the independence of the judiciary, according to the Gorkhapatraonline.com of today.
The taskforce made up of four parties assigned to prepare a draft on a package deal has resumed its work at Sheetal Niwas, the president office today morning. The taskforce formed to prepare a draft on a package deal including the modalities of Chief Justice-led government formation, constitution amendment among others is expected to submit its report to top leaders of four parties this afternoon for discussion, according to THT ONLINE news of today.
A writ petition was filed at the Supreme Court of Nepal yesterday seeking a stay order against the possible appointment of Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi to a new prime minister to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly. Hindu activist Bharat Jangum filed the petition seeking intervention of the apex court in this matter, as it was against the rule of law‚ independence of judiciary and against the principle of separation of power and checks and balances. Jangum claimed that articles 100‚ 104‚ 106 and 112 of the Interim Constitution do not allow the CJ to be a PM as it would go against the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, according to the HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE news of yesterday.
Chairman of the CPN-Maoist Mohan Baidhya warned of bloodshed in the nation if the Chief Justice is appointed as the prime minister while addressing cadres at a training session of the party in Dharan of Sunsari yesterday. He said that his party would not accept the proposal floated by the four forces for appointing Chief Justice as the prime minister as they have already turned impotent, according to ‘The Himalayan Times’ news of yesterday.
Five left parties such as CPN-Maoist-II (Mohan Vaidhya), CPN-Maoist-III (Matrika) CPN-Unified, Revolutionary Communist Party-Nepal, and Federal Limbuwan Council announced that they would launch street protests against forming a government under the serving Chief Justice, according to the THT ONLINE news of yesterday.
Chairman of Federal Socialist Party Ashok Rai today claimed that the four major political parties decided to award the post of prime minister to serving Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi for the latter’s role that led to the untimely demise of the Constituent Assembly without promulgating the constitution. Speaking at a press conference held by the Rupandehi chapter of Association of Nepal Indigenous Journalists (ANIJ) in Butwal today morning, Rai accused the four major parties such as UCPN-Maoist and UDMF, NC, and CPN-UML of displaying their incompetence as political parties handing over the post of prime minister as a gift to a person that had caused the demise of the constitution drafting body by his unwise ruling, according to Nepalnews.com of today
Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) today expressed its concern over the ongoing efforts on forming an election government under the Chief Justice's leadership. In a press statement released in Kathmandu today, NEFIN Chairman Raj Kumar Lekhi condemned the act of major parties to hand over the leadership of government to the head of the judiciary, dubbing it shame on democracy. “To maintain control and balance in the state, executive and judiciary should be kept separately like two banks of a river. Parties’ efforts to appoint Chief Justice as the head of the election government is a serious conspiracy,” THT ONLINE quoted him as saying.
