KATHMANDU, Nov 25: The government has expedited preparations to register a draft bill that seeks to amend four provisions of the constitution in the parliament on Sunday.
The government’s move comes in the wake of the efforts of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other leaders of ruling parties failing to bring the main opposition party, CPN-UML onboard the constitution amendment process.
Minister for Physical Planning and Infrastructure Ramesh Lekhak informed that ruling parties discussed the content of the draft amendment bill on Friday. “We hope to finalize the amendment bill by tomorrow [Saturday]. An amendment proposal will be registered in parliament on Sunday,” Minister Lekhak told Republica.
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Prime Minister Dahal had invited Law Secretary and other secretaries at the Prime Minister’s Office to his official residence in Baluwatar on Friday to prepare draft amendment bill as per the informal understanding reached with the agitating Madhesh-based political parties. “Prime Minister Dahal is scheduled to hold further discussions with the agitating Madhes-based political parties on Saturday,” said Prime Minister Dahal’s press coordinator Govinda Acharya.
Prime Minister Dahal plans to finalize the draft amendment bill by Saturday and register it in parliament on Sunday after having it endorsed through the cabinet meeting. “The prime minister is trying to take at least the agitating Madhes-based parties into confidence before registering the amendment bill,” a source told Republica. Although other constituent parties in the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front have given their nod to the draft amendment, Federal Socialist Forum Nepal chief Upendra Yadav has expressed reservations over the proposed amendment bill.
Senior Maoist Center leader Narayankaji Shrestha said he has asked the top party leadership to first convince the Madhes-based parties about the relevance of the proposed amendment. “Otherwise, there is no point introducing the amendment bill. While such an amendment will not solve the problems of Madhes, it will also make people of Province 5 more agitated and the government may not be able to control the situation,” Shrestha told Republica.
Sources said Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN (Maoist Center) are scheduled to hold further discussions on the amendment proposal within their parties on Saturday. While the main opposition party has already announced its plan to step up street protests against the proposed amendments, pressure is mounting also within the ruling Nepali Congress and the Maoist Center to bring the CPN-UML into confidence before registering the amendment bill.
The government’s amendment bill proposes taking five hill districts out of Province 5, and revising the existing boundary of Province 4, so that Province 5 will stretch from Nawalparasi to Bardiya district.
Leaders familiar with the development said the government is preparing to bring amendment to the current provision on citizenship that bars naturalized citizens from holding all key state posts, and makes it mandatory for those seeking naturalization to first renounce their citizenship of origin.
The amendment bill being prepared by the ruling parties also seeks to allocate a minimum of four representatives each from the provinces to the Upper House and determine the remaining representatives on the basis of population. It also seeks to include Hindi as a language of official business in the annex of the new statute as per the recommendation of the newly-formed Language Commission. Among other things, the amendment bill proposes forming a powerful Federal Commission to settle disputes surrounding delineation of federal provinces.
