NC, UML one on peace, divided on PM’s resignation
While the two opposition parties—Nepali Congress and CPN-UML—have once again joined hands to make the Maoist party keep its promises on the peace process, they, however, remain sharply divided on seeking an alternative to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.
While a section of the NC and most of the UML leaders, who have lost patience with Bhattarai, argue that it is high time they demanded the “incompetent” PM to put in his papers, there is a sizable chunk of leaders, especially in the NC, who don’t see any alternative to Bhattarai at the moment, at least until the peace process is complete.
Saturday’s meeting among the top brass of the two parties, which saw sharply divided opinions, ended up with a joint statement which strongly urged the Maoist party and Bhattarai to implement the seven-point deal, but said the PM must not resign.
Insiders in the NC said most UML leaders took a very hard position against Bhattarai during recent bilateral talks, but that the NC has seen two clearly opposing views—one demanding the PM’s resignation and another for keeping him.
“We had hoped that once the Maoists lead the government, the peace process would advance. But since the process remains stalled, serious questions have been raised as to why the government should continue,” NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi said.
However, the NC top brass says it will be like pushing the peace process back to square one if the parties sought Bhattarai’s resignation and started the process of forming a new government. “NC still firmly believes that Bhattarai should continue till the peace process is complete, or the Maoist party is not going to cooperate,” said a senior NC leader. “And the solution does not lie in replacing Bhattarai. After all, it is Prachanda who is the kingmaker.”
While some UML leaders have also floated a proposal to form a new government, NC leaders, who hope to lead the government during elections, say they “cannot think of a non-Maoist government now”. The second-rank NC leaders have started lobbying for a strategic shift in the top leaders’ position on a national unity government under Bhattarai. “Our trust on the government is fast eroding,” said an NC leader.
NC leaders’ recent disenchantment with Bhattarai partly stems from his “shift” of focus from the peace process to safeguarding his government from possible fall and appeasing the Madhesi parties through controversial decisions.
Posted on: 2012-01-09 09:07
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