Growing rift puts CA chairman at centre stage

Mounting tension between the ruling and opposition parties has put Chairman of Constituent Assembly (CA) Subas Nembang at centre stage of politics.

The ruling Nepal Congress and CPN-UML are pressing him to declare a Questionnaire Committee to initiate the voting process, with the opposition parties warning him against any unilateral move.

Stakes are high for Nembang too. Forming the committee has become a prestige issue for the CA chairman who is not in a position to back track from it now. Nembang wants to move ahead, but at the same time he is conscious of his neutral position as CA Chair, say sources at the CA Secretariat.

He had initiated the process of the committee formation amid pressure from the ruling parties to table a special proposal on the constitution drafting, and that from the opposition for extending the statute deadline. Cross-party leaders say UML Chairman KP Oli has been putting pressure on the CA chairman for initiating the process despite vehement protest from the opposition parties.

The ruling coalition was in favour of forming the committee on January 22 to send out a message that the constitution drafting process had begun. But that failed to materialise due to the opposition protests.

Nembang, however, maintains that though it was the responsibility of the ruling parties to fight at the meeting of the Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee, they passed the issue to him. Under the CA Rules of Procedure, the responsibility lies with the PDCC to prepare a Questionnaire Committee for initiating the voting process.

As the onus of moving the constitution drafting process is on Nembang, he desperately wants to give a message that he accomplished his duty by forming the committee. On Saturday, senior Maoist leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Baburam Bhattarai renewed their warning, asking Nembang not to take any unilateral move.

Source: ekantipur.com