Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Tuesday said talks to draft a Constitution would go on, but he would not give in to any precondition set by the Opposition.
Receiving a memorandum from the Reporters Club Nepal, Mr. Koirala said UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal set terms when he approached him for resumption of talks. “He demanded dissolving the Questionnaire Committee. Who am I to dissolve a committee formed by the Constituent Assembly?”
“I will not backtrack from consensus politics, but I will not hold meetings with conditions,” Mr. Koirala said. He added that the Constitution-drafting process “will not stop because of threats and blackmails from the UCPN (Maoist).”
On Tuesday, a meeting of the Opposition alliance decided to boycott the meeting of the Constituent Assembly called for February 5. The Opposition refused to resume talks with the government or participate in the Constitution-writing process until the Proposal Drafting Committee was dissolved.
Meanwhile, a sub-committeetabled questionnaires at the Proposal Drafting Committee’s full meeting on Tuesday, according to Agni Prasad Kharel, a sub-committee coordinator and CPN-UML lawmaker. The disputes with questionnaire will be submitted to the full CA on Thursday.
