Nepali Congress, UCPN-M rule out possibility of civic polls

Lawmakers of the ruling Unified CPN-Maoist and Nepali Congress have ruled out the possibility of holding local bodies' elections later this year as announced by the government in its policy and programme.

Ever since the announcement, parliamentarians of the ruling alliance, including UCPN-M and Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (Democratic), criticised some of the programmes terming them unimplementable.

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba taking part in the discussion on policy and programme of the government, said implementation of long-term programmes by the government, whose days were numbered, was not possible.

"The local bodies' elections were imperative but the government does not seem to be committed to holding the polls. We cannot believe that the polls could be held without resolving the problems of Madhes," Himalayan Times quoted him as saying.

While Deuba pressed that the announcement of generating 10,000 megawatt electricity in 10 years was ambitious, he said it was difficult to implement in the absence of development infrastructure and national consensus.

He said that government's plan in constructing the Kathmandu-Nijgadh fast track was problematic, as preventing the already begun global tender process would spoil the environment for inviting foreign investors.

"If a foreign company, which is already in the process of global bidding, claims compensation, it will cause loss to the country. And constructing the fast track itself will not be credible and implementable," said Deuba.

The Nepali Congress leader said that government shut the door of consensus by recalling Nepal's ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay, who was appointed by previous NC-led government.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML leader Jhalanath Khanal termed the policy and programme important and progressive.

"Many new programmes have been announced as the starting points of new development campaign. Expanding roads, constructing railways and producing electricity are important and essential programmes announced by the government," Khanal said.

Underlining the need of national consensus, he urged the government to take initiatives at the earliest to resolve the problems through talks.

UCPN-M lawmaker Asha Koirala said the local polls cannot be held in November/December as announced by the government.

"The commission is mandated to restructure the local bodies by determining their number and boundaries before mid-March. Conducting the polls just three months before that will be meaningless," she said.

UCPN-M leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara also echoed the same.