E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, NOV 16 - Amid criticism that his government's unilateral decisions were spoiling the atmosphere of trust created after the seven-point deal, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai continued his damage control efforts even on Tuesday telling a select group of journalists that a national unity government would be formed under his leadership after November 30. The current term of the Constituent Assembly (CA) expires on November 30, and it will require a cross-party support to muster a two-third vote for extending the CA's term.

Bhattarai said that an all-party government was in the cards, as irreversible progress in the peace process was in sight. Talking to the reporters in Baluwatar, PM Bhattarai said that the peace process would be almost completed by November 30 and the CA tenure would be extended by another six months, during which the new constitution would be written and promulgated.

 The Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML leaders have been saying all along that formation of a national consensus government depends on implementation of the seven-point agreement. In the seven-point pact, the parties have agreed to complete the regrouping process, returning of the seized property and dismantling YCL's paramilitary structure by November 23.

Bhattarai also said he would lead the unity government to oversee the conclusion of the peace and constitution-writing processes before handing over the mantle to NC for holding general elections.

Bhattarai's remark comes at a time when his party's hardliners are pushing the name of party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal as a prime ministerial candidate for the next consensus government despite Dahal's public announcement that he would not vie for the post in the transitional phase. "I am not in the prime ministerial race in the interim period," Dahal told journalists last week.

PM Bhattarai, who has made three foreign visits since assuming the prime ministerial post, said that maintaining "international power balance" was a key to concluding the peace and constitution-writing processes.

For much of the past week, critical coverage of his government's decision to seek presidential pardon for the murder-convicted lawmaker, Bal Krishna Dhungel, and the bloated Cabinet, and protests from the opposition parties dominated both the media and political landscape. PM Bhattarai is seeking to control the way issues are being framed in the public--trying to draw attention towards the peace and constitution writing instead.

 "I have sacrificed my personal image for the sake of peace and constitution," Bhattarai said.

 

Posted on: 2011-11-16 06:00

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