Election-weary HLPC fed up with talks-shy CPN-Maoist

KATHMANDU, JUL 25 -
The High-level Political Commi-ttee ( HLPC ) has reached a conclusion that it is impossible to bring the CPN-Maoist on board the election process.

Fatigued by its repeated attempts to woo the Mohan Baidya-led party, the HLPC has made up its mind to move ahead on its own. Cross-party leaders say the CPN-M even does not want to hear the word ‘election’ and hell bent on the government’s ouster.

In such a scenario, they say, holding talks with Baidya is meaningless and it will not yield any result. After the CPN-M formed its talk team on July 8, the HLPC had sent an official letter but the snubbed the offer, saying that talks should be unconditional. “The HLPC needs to finalise whether the Baidya-led alliance is going to the polls. If not, we should proceed ahead accordingly,” said Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik General Secretary Jitendra Naraya Dev.

Cross-party leaders say talks with Baidya is not possible as long as the party sticks to the demand of election postponement and dissolution of the government. “The main objective of the HLPC is to make the November 19 polls a success, but the CPN-Maoist is against the overall election process. So I am not optimistic that the talks will yield any result,” said Nepali Congress leader Ram Saran Mahat. The CPN-M has already directed its district wings to be ready to obstruct the poll process. The 33-party alliance led by Baidya has also urged the international community not to support the government in holding the elections.

Concluding that talks with the Maoists will not go in a positive direction, HLPC leaders are holding informal a dialogue with the Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal (MJF-N) and the Federal Socialist Party Nepal (FSP-N) to address their demands. HLPC leaders say if MJF-N and FSP-N’s demand for increasing the seats under the proportional representation system is addressed, they will join the election process. The Upendra Yadav-led alliance held talks government on Sunday. Now the HLPC is likely to focus on removing the difficulties concerning constituency delimitation and increasing the seats under the proportional election system.

Fresh protest from today

The Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist has started forming ‘anti-election forces’ in each electoral constituency across the country to foil the CA elections. “A parallel force is being created in each electoral constituency, which will be backed by a VDC level structure. Such a move is as per the mandate of the Central Committee meeting held in Pokhara,” said a party leader. The party has reportedly completed all preparations for a fresh protest programme scheduled to begin from Thursday.

Labels: News