The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UMl on Wednesday rejected Maoists’ demand to amend the interim Constitution to include a provision of consensus to form the next Government, saying the country cannot be held hostage to the vested interests of some political parties.
“We have both procedures — majority based and consensus based — in the Constitution and as we are committed to consensus polities, there is no need to bring any amendment,” said Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi.A central committee meeting of UCPN-Maoist on Monday demanded that the relevant provisions in the interim Constitution be amended to pave way for consensus politics if the Maoists are to participate in the Constitution drafting process. The Maoists have been threatening to boycott the Constituent Assembly, alleging that massive scale of rigging was prevalent during the recently concluded polls.
The party, which was routed in the November 19 polls, has maintained that the interim Constitution should be amended and a system of consensus established for Constitution drafting, formation of new Government and to decide other matters as well.