PM says will stay put, hold CA elections

KATHMANDU, JUN 26 -

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has dismissed suggestions of him stepping down, saying that he would hand over power to the elected government that will be formed after fresh Constituent Assembly elections. This effectively puts him at loggerheads with party President Pushpa Kamal Dahal who has suggested the possibility of the CA’s revival should there be consensus among political parties.

The PM warned that any attempt to topple the incumbent “constitutional government” would derail the entire political process and invite a situation akin to that of February 1, 2005, when then king Gyanendra Shah took over absolute power but his regime lasted only for a year.

“If I vacate the office now,” he told a press conference at the TIA upon his arrival from Rio de Jenerio on Monday, “the country will plunge into another constitutional crisis. Bhattarai had gone to Rio, Brazil on June 18 to attend Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. “Resignation is no child’s play and I am a responsible man,” he said. “Those demanding my resignation will cool down gradually,” he added. He instead urged the parties, who had once joined his government and left after the CA dissolution on May 27, to join his government to find national consensus for fresh CA elections in November. The PM was also adamant on holding the elections and termed it a constitutional and democratic move that will be a “remedy to all political sufferings.”

“We announced the elections as per the verdict of the Supreme Court,” the PM said. He added that the government has no alternative but to remove the hurdles in holding the polls through the President.

He indicated that the President would use his prerogatives to help amend the constitution and other laws to hold the polls.  The PM also made light of the recent split in his party, saying that “some dissatisfied friends have left the party for a while” and that he hoped that they would “come back. I don’t term it a split.”

Protests greet Bhattarai at TIA

Tension ran high at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Monday after police baton-charged Nepali Congress cadres while they greeted PM Baburam Bhattarai with black flags. The PM returned home on Monday after attending the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Despite heightened security with 1,000 security personnel manning the main streets of Kathmandu, dozens of activists of the NC and its sister wings—Nepal Student Union (NSU), Tarun Dal and Nepal Kishan Sangh (NKS)—gathered at the airport.

They termed the caretaker PM’s visit to Brazil “unconstitutional.”

Around three dozen demonstrators, including NSU coordinator Ranjit Karna, President and central member of the NKS Bhanubhakta Sigdel and central committee member of the Tarun Dal Saraswati Shah, were held for two hours at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala. Karna said seven persons were injured in the baton charge, one seriously.

Security personnel in large numbers were present along the stretch from the airport to Baluwatar, the PM’s official residence.

According to SSP Jaya Bahadur Chand, the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, security was beefed up as they expected demonstrations by different groups.

Vehicular and public movement at the TIA came to a grinding halt as the PM headed for Baluwatar. 

The NC condemned the government’s “use of force” and the arrest of its cadres. It said the act was an “attack” on the right to peaceful demonstration.


Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/2012/06/26/top-story/pm-says-will-stay-put-hold-ca-elections/356162/