‘UML To Join Govt If Given Respectful Berths’ 

Senior CPN-UML leader and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar has hinted that his party would join the government only if given ‘respectful’ berths in the new Cabinet to be formed. Speaking at a programme in Rautahat district on January 2, Nepal also said the largest party Nepali Congress (NC) has not yet talked with his party regarding the government formation. “A proper place for every party in the state power is necessary for success of the second Constituent Assembly (CA),” Nepal said.

 

28 Parties Submit PR List

Twenty-eight political parties including the Nepali Congress (NC) and the UCPN (Maoist) submitted their final lists of PR candidates for the CA to the Election Commission (EC) on December 30, the last day of the third extended deadline to do so. NC submitted a list of 91 PR members for the CA while the UCPN (Maoist) submitted a list of 56 CA members. However, the political parties submitted the lists amid serious dissatisfaction and disputes among their senior leaders over the allotment of the PR seats. Fifteen central committee members of the NC have written a note of dissent about the party’s list. Similarly, UCPN (M) leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha boycotted the party’s central committee meeting held at Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s residence in Lazimpat, expressing serious reservation over the allotment of the PR seats. Meanwhile, Federal Socialist Party-Nepal, which won five seats under the PR category, and Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal, which won eight, did not submit their final lists of PR candidates though the third deadline to do so expired.

 

SC Quizzes Govt over CA Session Writ 

The Supreme Court on December 31 asked the government to explain why the President cannot call the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA). Responding to a writ petition filed by advocate Biswas Acharya, a single bench of Justice Tarka Raj Bhatta also asked both petitioner and defendants to appear before the court to discuss whether a stay order is required as demanded by the petitioner in the writ. The Prime Minister’s Office, Council of Ministers and Minister for Information and Communication, Madhav Poudel, have been made the defendants in the writ. Advocate Acharya had moved the apex court on December 27, last year, demanding an order that the President call the first meeting of the CA. He maintains that it is an international practice that the head of state calls meeting of the CA and session of Parliament.

 

RPP-N Saved From Split

The disgruntled leaders of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N), who had announced to split from the party on December 30, have rejoined the mother party. They have also admitted that trying to split the party was a great mistake. Speaking at a programme organised in the capital on January 2, senior leader Tanka Dhakal, who leads the disgruntled faction, admitted that the attempt by him and other irate leaders to register a new party after rebelling from RPP-N was the “gravest mistake” of his political career. Earlier, 20 out of the 45 Central Committee (CC) members of the party had decided to part ways and form a new party after RPP-Nepal party Chairman Kamal Thapa turned down their demand to review the list of the CA members under the PR category. Though RPP-Nepal couldn’t win even a single seat under the FPTP system, it got 24 seats under the PR system.