KATHMANDU, Oct 9: A day after proposing CA revival to the Nepali Congress (NC), UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Tuesday that his party is not afraid of fresh elections but insisted that elections should be held only after the constitution is promulgated. He was speaking at a function organized by Jan Sanchar Abhiyan in the capital.
Dahal also said elections should be regarded as the last option for ending the current impasse.
"Although we have proposed reviving the CA, it does not mean that we have given up on elections," said Dahal
We are open to both the alternatives -- CA revival or holding fresh elections -- for ending the impasse, he said.
Although the major political parties a few weeks ago had agreed to go for fresh elections, Dahal during a meeting with NC President Sushil Koirala on Monday changed stance and proposed reviving the CA.
Some opposition leaders who are vehemently opposed to the idea of CA revival have accused Dahal of backtracking on elections.
Countering the allegations, Dahal said former lawmakers from NC too have proposed to him that the CA should be revived. He argued that CA revival is necessary also to fix election date and decide the age of voters.
"I proposed CA revival because this is the best alternative to promulgate the new constitution. If we fail to forge consensus on contentious issues of constitution writing, we can still promulgate a new constitution and leave the contentious issues for the new parliament to resolve," said Dahal. According to him, consensus is not difficult if the parties leave their earlier stances mainly on the number of provinces.
"We just ended today´s [Tuesday´s] meeting with Koirala saying that we can go to fresh elections if there is no consensus," said Dahal adding that they would meet again after a few days. Koirala and Dahal will be out of the valley for some days.
In a separate context, he said that his party is ready to quit the government but only after political consensus.
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