NC, UML want PM Bhattarai to step down to facilitate the process of forming consensus govt

Top leaders of major parties - Nepali Congress and CPN(UML) – have demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who they claimed was responsible for Constituent Assembly’s dissolution without promulgating the constitution, to facilitate the process of forming a consensus government.

A joint meeting of the two parties on Sunday also lambasted Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s proposals to end the existing political stalemate by turning the Bhattarai-led government into a national consensus one, saying that they will not hold any discussions with the ruling Maoist party until PM Bhattarai steps down.

The meeting that took place at the house of UML leader Krishna Lal Maharjan in Lalitpur a day after Dahal tabled the proposals to end the political deadlock, urged the ruling party ruling party to agree to pave the path for the formation of a new consensus government before holding further talks on disputed political issues.

Talking to media-persons after emerging from the meeting, UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal warned that opposition parties will be forced to wage joint street protests against the government if it tries to break the process of forming a consensus government.

He said his party UML as well as NC will not tolerate Dahal’s ploy to give continuity to the Bhattarai-led government in the guise of a unity or consensus government any more.

Khanal also criticized the Maoist party for lobbying in favor of revival of CA, which he said will only deepen the political crisis facing the country.

Similarly, NC vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel said that his party is of the strong belief that the current government should be replaced with a national consensus government to end the current political deadlock.

Paudel said they will launch strong street protests against the government after the Tihar festivals if PM Bhattarai refuses to step down to pave the path for the formation of a new consensus government. nepalnews.com