NC Mahasamiti meeting in Nawalparasi from April 8

KOSH RAJ KOIRALA
23 CWC members want Regmi to step down from the post of CJ
 
KATHMANDU, March 29: Keeping in view the upcoming CA elections, Nepali Congress (NC) on Thursday decided to hold its Mahasamiti meeting in Nawalparasi district in the second week of April.

A CWC meeting held at the party´s headquarters in Sanepa decided to hold the four-day Mahasamiti meeting starting April 8 to formulate party´s election strategy and also to collect suggestion from Mahasamiti members to prepare the election manifesto.

The Mahasamiti members are expected to give suggestions to the party´s leadership on various contentious issues such as federalism, system of governance, inclusiveness and various other issues related to the new constitution and concurrent political situation.

Mahasamiti meeting, which is mandated to take policy decisions, is the most powerful body of the NC after the party´s general convention. "The Mahasamiti meeting will also bring amendments to the party´s statute as per the suggestions made by the 12th General Convention, national gathering of the party´s district presidents, and suggestions received during the orientation of the party´s regional gathering," CWC member Jiwan Pariyar told Republica.

The CWC meeting entrusted Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel to prepare a political paper and General Secretary Krishna Sitaula to prepare the party´s statute amendment proposal to be presented at the Mahasamiti meeting. Poudel and Sitaula have been asked to submit their respective draft proposals at the next CWC meeting scheduled for Tuesday for endorsement, according to NC spokesman Dilendra Prasad Badu.

NC had last held its Mahasamiti meeting to bring various amendments to the party´s statute in November, 2009. Among other things, the meeting had introduced reservation policy in the party´s organizational structures and made a provision of directly electing one general secretary and treasurer through the general convention.

The CWC meeting Thursday also asked the Election Commission to run a campaign to update voters´ registration across the country. The meeting asked the government to make necessary arrangements to provide citizenship certificates by descent to the children of those acquiring citizenship certificates by birth.

Altogether 13 CWC members including K B Gurung, Bimalendra Nidhi, Arjun Narsingh KC, Bal Bahadur KC, Mahesh Acharya, Narahari Acharya, Prakash Sharan Mahat, Sujata Koirala, Bhism Raj Angdembe, Shekhar Koirala, Chandra Bhandari, Dhan Raj Gurung and Pushpa Bhusal had put forth their view on various issues during the meeting.

They underscored the need for holding dialogue with the ´disgruntled political forces including the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist, which have been obstructing voters´ registration process, to ensure timely poll as the protracted political transition had not only rendered the country historically weak, but also stalled overall development process in the country.

23 CWC members demand Regmi step down as CJ

A group of ´disgruntled´ CWC members of the party have demanded that Chairman of the Interim Election Council of Ministers Khil Raj Regmi should resign immediately from the post of chief justice.

CWC member K B Gurung on behalf of the 23 CWC members presented a four-point proposal for endorsement at the outset of the CWC meeting. In the proposal, the ´disgruntled´ CWC members demanded that the party officially ask Khil Raj Regmi to step down from the post of chief justice, ask the govt to conduct election by mid-July, fill the remaininig vacancies in the constitutional bodies only after fresh election and start holding negotiations with the political forces that have been obstructing the voters´ registration process.

The CWC members argued that the same person heading both executive and judiciary violates the basic principle of separation of powers. They also expressed strong dissatisfaction over the decision of the party to support the Maoist proposal to appoint chief justice as head of government and said the decision undermined NC´s credentials as a democratic party.

Referring to the position of the Nepal Bar Association and various international organizations including the International Commission of Jurists, CWC members including Shekhar Koirala, Pushpa Bhusal, Chandra Bhandari, Sujata Koirala and Arjun Narsingh KC had come down heavily against the party leadership for agreeing to appoint the chief justice to head election government. "It seems we made mistakes by putting huge trust on our senior leaders. The decision of the party´s top leaders to accept a CJ-led government is against the decisions made by the CWC meeting earlier," CWC member Chandra Bhandari had said at the meeting.