KATHMANDU, MAY 12 -
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Sunday that growing
rapprochement with breakaway faction CPN-Maoist would not affect his
commitment to peace and constitution.
Dahal added that as a signatory to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA), it is his responsibility to accommodate all the political forces
including CPN-Maoist in the broader constitution drafting process.
Organising a press conference at Party headquarter Perisdanda, Dahal
said CPN-Maoist is not against the political line of peace and
constitution and its demand of holding a roundtable conference could be
addressed without affecting the ongoing constitution drafting process.
The clarification from the main opposition party leader comes amid
growing concern that Dahal’s unification bid with breakaway party will
have negative spillover effects upon ongoing constitution drafting and
peace process.
Such scepticism surfaced after the Maoist supremo in his political
dossier presented at party’s national convention mentioned that chances
of drafting a progressive constitution are “slim”.
He lamented that some political parties as well as a section of the
international community are trying to portray him as an “anti-peace” and
“anti-constitution” leader.
“The ongoing working alliance or unification bid with CPN-Maoist should
not be taken as a move against the constitution drafting process,”
Dahal assured.
Of late, Dahal is believed to be rapidly cosying up to CPN-Maoist
leaders even as his feud with senior UCPN (M) leader Baburam Bhattarai
is deepening. During the party’s national convention last week,
Bhattarai had raised serious questions about Dahal’s commitment to peace
and constitution.
He had said that Dahal is gradually becoming “indifferent” to the main
task of delivering the much awaited new constitution. But, leaders close
to Dahal said that Bhattarai has made it a habit of projecting Dahal
negatively whenever the rift between the two leaders widens.
Meanwhile, the UCPN (Maoist) and CPN-Maoist have reportedly forged a
working alliance on the issues related to formation of Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and local elections.
In the press conference organised to clarify his position on
constitution drafting and intra-party rift, Dahal, however, said that
the two Maoist parties concur on some vital issues of the to-be-drafted
constitution such as federalism, providing rights to the margnalised
communities and issues related to transitional justice mechanism.
Dahal also said that his party would not give up its progressive agenda
just for the sake of drafting the new constitution. “We want a new
constitution that would address the progressive changes in the
constitution as stated in the CPA and Interim Constitution,” Dahal
clarified, adding that the party cannot be shameless as Nepali Congress
and CPN-UML who have abandoned their core ideology. He also warned that
the country cannot move ahead towards peace, development and prosperity
if other parties try to curtail the role of the Maoists in the
constitution drafting process.
Saying there are no ideological differences inside the party, which
became clear after his political dossier was passed unanimously by the
national convention, Dahal stated that party’s position on India remains
unchanged and that “unequal treaties” signed with India and border
related problems should be resolved at the earliest.
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