MK Nepal for holding referendum to decide about Federalism; RPP praises preparations for poll

KATHMANDU: One day after Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal leader Kamal Thapa alleged that the agenda of Federalism was imposed by the foreigners as it is not the agenda of political parties, former prime minister and senior leader of CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that referendum should be held to determine ‘whether people want federalism or not’.

Speaking at a program in Dang Friday, Nepal said it is wise to decide highly sensitive issues, such as the forms of governance including federalism, only through people’s direct voices, instead of their representatives having an upper hand.

“Stiff differences over this issue were the major reasons for the dissolution of the first Constituent Assembly without promulgating a new constitution. If we do not want to repeat the same, we must be ready to go for referendum,” Nepal said.

Nepal also added that the High Level Political Committee can be dissolved and reshuffled if the disgruntled parties agree to participate in the upcoming polls. He underscored the need of taking all the democratic parties on board for holding the elections of the constituent assembly. “It is necessary that all democratic and progressive parties take part in the election to come up with a full fledged constitution through the election of the Constituent Assembly,” he added.

The first constituent assembly dissolved after the major political parties failed to reach into consensus on the issues like Federalism and structure of governance among others.

Meanwhile, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has requested that the dissenting parties to the 11-point agreement to be responsible for current constitutional and political problems.

Addressing a press conference on Friday in the capital, Chairman of the RPP Surya Bahadur Thapa commended the Government and the Election Commission for the preparations made for the election. “The party is excited for election with these activities,” Thapa added.

The party also drew the attention of different political parties which have denied to be involved in election process to come to agreement for polls. Thapa stated that the party sees Constituent Assembly election on November 19 as an opportunity. He directed the party members and sister organizations to participate actively in the election. The party also appealed to other political parties and voters to ensure election environment.