KATHMANDU, DEC 22 - In an indication of souring relations among parties ahead of January 22 deadline of constitution drafting, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday lashed out at CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli.

On Saturday, the UCPN (Maoist) leaders walked out of the “decisive meeting” convened at the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar immediately after UML leader Oli delivered his speech.

“Oli is neither the contractor nor the king of this nation,” said leader Dahal, talking to media persons after meeting Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subas Nembang at the CA building in New Baneshwor on Sunday.

In his speech, Oli said that the UCPN (Maoist) had been obstructing the constitution drafting process by forming the alliance of opposition parties and urged the latter to dissolve it.

The UCPN (Maoist) leaders were enraged after Oli said the new constitution should be drafted through procedure if the parties cannot reach an agreement on the disputed issues.

Dahal ruled out the possibility of drafting the new constitution by January 22 deadline if the there was no consensus. He said the UCPN (Maoist) walked of the meeting after Oli urged to dissolve the alliance.

Dahal, along with other leaders aligned to Federal Democratic Alliance (FDA), met the CA chairman, urging him to take initiatives to draft the new constitution through consensus.

Dahal’s deputy Baburam Bhattarai said contentious issues should be forwarded to the Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (PDCC) that he chairs. Bhattarai reiterated full House CA cannot form any special committee to deal with the contentious issues of the new constitution.  He suggested the parties to continue the talks on key issues of the new constitution.

National integrity holds key to federalism: Khanal

Defending the joint proposal of the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, senior UML leader Jhala Nath Khanal has asserted that Tarai and hills should not be separated while federating the country into a new set up.

“National integrity is a key for federalism. Madhes and hills must not be separated,” said Khanal, speaking at an interaction programme in the Capital on Sunday.

The ruling parties have proposed a seven-province federal model aimed at connecting Tarai and hills. But the opposition parties, mainly Madhes-centric ones, have opposed the idea demanding exclusively Madhes provinces.

 Stressing on the need of timely constitution, Khanal requested alliance of 19 political parties led by the UCPN (Maoist) to stop issuing the threats of another agitation. “The nation has already witnessed the Maoists-led people’s war that lasted for a decade. So the people are not going to be scared anymore of their baseless threats,” said Khanal.

He maintained that the ruling parties are committed to bringing the new constitution by January 22 and urged the opposition parties for cooperation.

Insisting that the disputed issues should be resolved through due procedure as nowhere in the world has the constitution been drafted by bringing all the dissenting sides to consensus, the former primie minister said that the UCPN (Maoist)-led alliance would not reach anywhere by walking out on the talks intended to forge consensus.

He also made it clear that the reports submitted by the Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (PDCC) to the Constitution Assembly would not be returned to the committee. He even warned of retaliation against those who oppose the voting process.

Reminding the UCPN (Maoist) how the wrong path adopted by them led to the failure of previous CA, Khanal requested the party not to repeat the same mistake this time.