KATHMANDU, JUL 18 - Prime Minister Sushil Koirala is under severe pressure from his own party as well as from opposition UCPN (Maoist) to promulgate constitution only after settlement of delineation of federal units.
Influential leaders from party as well as UCPN (Maoist) have stood in favor of settling the delineation row which has put pressure on Koirala, also the president of the Nepali Congress.
Along with senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and government ministers close to him, some leaders from Koirala camp want to resolve thedemarcation row at the earliest. Owing to such pressures, Koirala himself is giving public remarks that informal discussions are underway to seek a compromising point ondemarcation . NC leaders maintain that party should respect the Supreme Court stay order.
The statement, however, has irked coalition partner CPN-UML which believes that if parties enter to the demarcation agenda, there will be delay in constitution drafting process as per 16-point cross-party agreement. UML Chair KP Oli is maintaining that he is ready for talks on same issue but it should not delay the promulgation.
The 16-point agreement, the bedrock of preliminary draft of constitution, signed by four parties on June 8 states that a demarcation row will be settled by transformed parliament on the basis of the report submitted by a commission and provincial parliament will name the federal units.
NC leader Gagan Thapa said on Saturday that it would be better to promulgate the constitution with clear demarcation even if it delays the date for constitution promulgation. "We will face complications in the implementation of federalism if delineation is not settled. It might take extra 10-15 days but we should do it," Thapa said.
Top leaders from Koirala camp Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Shekhar Adhikari, and Thapa among others are pressing Koirala to settle demarcation before statute promulgation.
Opposition UCPN (M) is also pressing Koirala to stand in favor of delineation. In informal meetings, Maoist leaders are saying that delineation of federal units is possible if there is a serious cross-party negotiation.
Four Madhes-based parties, which have the strength of 34 seats, are protesting in the CA as well as in the street demanding demarcation of federal units. Major party leaders are planning to hold negotiation on the issue after Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal returns from Delhi visit
If agreements are not forged on demarcation , parties are also mulling over to amend the Interim Constitution to allow CA to exist till the demarcation is finalised. However, there are arguments inside the parties that constitutionally CA cannot remain after completing its tasks of writing constitution.
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