Prez urges Dahal’s special role for ending impasse
KATHMANDU, July 2: President Ram Baran Yadav has urged UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to play a special role and take serious initiatives to forge consensus among major political parties to bail the country out of the present political impasse.
The president expressed his concern at a meeting with Dahal at the former´s office, Shital Niwas on Sunday.
Stating that it has already been a month since the new CA election date but there was no progress at all toward laying ground for the elections, President Yadav also expressed his worry over the lack of consensus among major political parties for bringing the budget for the fiscal year 2012/13.
“It is worrying to see that no efforts are being made to bring the fiscal budget through consensus,” a source at the president´s office quoted the president as saying. “Now it is high time that leaders take concrete steps for this and I request you to take special initiatives to forge consensus.”
The president expressed his concerns at a time when opposition parties have been vociferously opposing the government´s attempt to introduce new budget without their consent. Opposition parties argue that Baburam Bhattarai, who has been “rendered to the status of a powerless caretaker prime minister following the dissolution of Constituent Assembly on May 27” cannot bring a full-fledged budget.
But the prime minister told reporters also on Saturday that he is determined to unveil a full-fledged budget.
Though the government last month announced fresh polls for November 22, some provisions in the Interim Constitution along with a dozen of laws need to be amended before holding the elections. Also, the Election Commission has repeatedly urged the government to amend related laws by the third week of July so it would be able to make necessary preparations for the polls.
The president also called on CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal earlier on Saturday as part of his initiatives to press leaders from major political parties for ending the stalemate.
During the meeting, Khanal told the president that the opposition parties would launch protests if the government brought a full-fledged budget without their consent.republica
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