By IANS,
Kathmandu : After vacillating for almost a year, Nepal’s opposition Maoist party Wednesday decided to seek a no-trust vote against Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
“This government will not be able to draft a new constitution (within the deadline of May 28),” Maoist member of parliament and spokesman Dinanath Sharma told the media after the standing committee of the formerly outlawed party held deliberations Wednesday to decide its next strategy ahead of a “grand push” against the government Thursday.
“It will not be able to complete the task even if it is given two more years. As long as this government stays, there can be no consensus among the parties because this government is against consensus, the constitution and the peace process.”
Since their government fell last year, the Maoists, the largest party in Nepal after the 2008 elections, had been threatening to seek a no-trust vote against the government. However, with the two largest ruling parties sticking together, their offensive is doomed to fail for want of two-thirds majority in the 601-member parliament.
Only last week, Maoist chief and former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda said his party had dropped the plan of a no-trust vote since it would lead to the “dirty game” of buying MPs by the ruling alliance.
Now in a u-turn, the party said it will put the vote proposal at the meeting of the top leaders of the major parties to be held Wednesday.
On Thursday, also celebrated worldwide by communists as Russian leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s 140th birth anniversary, the Maoists have announced a public “push” against the government in the capital, demanding the prime minister’s resignation and the formation of a new all-party government under their leadership.
It will be followed by another public rally May 1, a date that is being eyed with mounting concern.
Nepal fears chaos, violence and a breakdown in law and order if the government fails to unveil the new constitution by May 28.
Constitutional experts are divided about what would happen.
Some, like lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya, say the life of the government and parliament would end. New elections would have to be held to choose a new parliament under a caretaker government.
The PM’s party, however, is advocating amending the constitution so that the tenure of both parliament and the government can be extended.
However, the Maoists, whose cooperation is needed to amend the constitution, have ruled out agreeing unless the PM steps down.
Businesses and industries have been living in fear amidst rumours that the Maoists will try to seize power. There are also fears that the government might declare emergency and military rule.
The other fear is that the army, which has shown itself to be independent of the government, may seek to grab power with or without the support of deposed king Gyanendra, whose 2005 coup it had backed.