33 parties for deferring polls, all related programs

KATHMANDU, Aug 5: With the first formal talks between the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) and the 33-party alliance of dissident political groups scheduled for Tuesday, leaders of the disgruntled parties led by the CPN-Maoist have decided to push for deferring for now the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls scheduled for November 19 and all other election-related programs.

"When we sit for talks tomorrow [Tuesday], we will first demand deferral of the scheduled poll date and all other election programs for now as this is the basic rule for any negotiations," Mani Thapa, chief of the Revolutionary Communist Party, told Republica. [break]

The Election Commission last week made public a two-month election program starting from September 22.

A meeting of the CPN-Maoist led alliance also set out some other conditions to be put forth during the negotiations. "We will stand firmly for scrapping the 25-point ordinance issued by the president for amending the constitution to remove political difficulties," said Pasang Sherpa, leader of a member party of the alliance.

The 33 fringe parties have been protesting against the formation of the present government headed by the chief justice and insisting on its dissolution. The present CJ-led government was formed in March as per the 11-point political agreement reached among the parties in the HLPC -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF). Since then, the 33 parties have announced that they are to prevent the election to be conducted by the present government.

Narayankaji Shrestha of UCPN (Maoist), a member party of the HLPC, said that they will listen to their demands during the talks on Tuesday and later the leaders from the HLPC member parties will discuss the views of the agitating parties.

"Tomorrow´s talks are preliminary. We will first listen to their views and discuss them among HLPC members parties afterward," Shrestha told Republica.

Mani Thapa also said that leaders from the alliance are for lobbying for a roundtable discussion among the political forces to seek a solution to the major contentious issues.

According to him, representatives from all the 33 parties will attend the talks on Tuesday. "Later, we will form the alliance´s talks team if there is an environment for continuity of the talks," he said.

The HLPC meeting on Monday also decided to hold separate formal talks with Upendra Yadav´s Madhesi People´s Rights Forum and the Ashok Rai-led Federal Socialist Party on Tuesday. These two parties have also announced a boycott of the polls to be conducted by the present government.