OM ASTHA RAI
After hope rose on Sunday that the four main political forces were close to an agreement, it turned out to be another false alarm as the parties appeared as far apart as ever in Monday’slast-minute negotiations.
Top leaders of major political parties failed to agree on the basis and number of federal units in closed-door meetings, and with three days to go for the 22 January deadline, the country is now headed for a showdown.
The ruling NC-UML coalition and the opposition UCPN (Maoist)-Madhesi parties say they have narrowed down their differences on the model of judiciary and electoral system. The Maoist-led alliance of 30 opposition parties said it is even ready to give up their stance on form of governance.
However, the dispute over basis and number of federal units is yet to be sorted out.
"We are ready to give up our stance on form of governance only if the NC and the UML agree to our demand of identity-based federalism," said the Maoist Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal at a hastily-called press conference on Monday evening.
In their joint political agenda, the 30-party alliance has demanded an executive President directly elected by the people. But, the Maoists said it was ready to barter that for identity-based federalism. The NC and the UML are in favor of continuity of the existing Westminster parliamentary system.
Amidst dispute over basis and number of federal units, the NC and UML lawmakers are pressing the Constituent Assembly (CA) Chair Subash Nembang to initiate the process for passing the new constitution through the majority voting system.
That process began late Monday, and members were asked to stay on.
As the CA geared up for its meeting, where the opposing proposals will be put up for a vote, Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai tweeted in Nepali that ‘the country is again headed towards conflict’.
The Maoist-led alliance has called for a nationwide general strike on Tuesday. Although the alliance has said that their strike will be 'peaceful', there are fears that there will be confrontation on the streets between cadres of the opposing forces.
"We have learnt from our information sources that the NC-UML cadres are going to defy our strike," said Ashok Rai, Chair of Federal Socialist Party, which is a member of the alliance. "But, we are ready to confront them."