Parties divided over fresh CA election

In a clear manifestation of brewing political polarization, various political parties have united for and against the government’s decision to announce fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) election. 

A joint meeting of Nepali Congress and CPN UML has announced stern protest against the government’s ‘unilateral decision’ to announce the CA election. 

Terming Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s decision as unconstitutional, the parties concluded that the move as an attempt to seize state power. 

The parties have also decided to rope in other parties to make their unity more intact. 

Meanwhile, according to Avenus TV channel, a meeting of 19 parties along with UCPN (Maoist) has hailed the government’s decision.




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ATM(height of sex and vulgarity in Nepali movie industry?)

Today, promo of an upcoming movie ‘A.T.M.’ was released online. It seems, the movie will have a good opening, considering an example of ‘The Last Kiss‘. In spite of a good opening in its initial days, ‘The Last Kiss’ received disappointing reviews and responses late

I have no idea what the movie ‘A.T.M.’ is about, but I can guess that movie is made to get good hype on media and earn some money by selling sex in a cheap way. Because of vulgar dialogues you might want to make sure you have a headphone ready, if somebody else is around, before you watch the promo video. In the promo, one can easily feel the sub-standard acting even in such a short video.

One thing is sure, ‘A.T.M.’ is another movie in the heard of movie with cheap scenes and dialogues. We are not sure if such movies will get permission to be featured in theatres or not but, Nepali film industry is surely testing the waters in the extreme edge of decency. I hope this will open an avenue to add art aspect to sex and make some really good movies. I hope this movie will be another example that sex alone won’t sell a movie. 

When the movie ‘Darpan Chaya’, made on a triangular love story, created a history by doing an excellent business, other film makers started to follow the trend and start making similar movies. After Rekha Thapa‘s action in ‘Durga’ became a hit, film makers started featuring actresses in action role. In the similar manner, when a movie made on adult theme ‘Chapali Height‘ did an excellent business a few months ago, I knew I will have to write a lot of reviews on adult themed movies in future. You can see I was right – writing reviews of more than a few such movies!

We had previously posted the photo featuring the actor grabbing (link to article in Nepali) the chest of one of the actresses – from one of the scenes featured in the following promo. Here is the promo (be warned, it has vulgar dialogues and scenes)

                                                                Trailor

Maoists not to blame for CA demise: Dahal

UCPN (Maoist) Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Monday that his party tried its best until the last moment to keep the Constituent Assembly alive, the tenure of which expired Sunday, failing to deliver a new constitution.

Speaking at a press meet at the Gyanzou Hotel in Lazimpat following the party´s standing committee meeting held in Paris Danda, the Maoist chairman blamed the dissolution of CA on those who did not want change in the country, referring to the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML as status quotists. 

Dahal alleged that NC and UML were more focused on government formation at the final stage of the negotiations, whereas his party, Dahal maintained, had put constitution writing on priority. He argued that it was largely due to this mismatch in priorities that ultimately caused the CA to fail.

Even though the CA got dissolved, the struggle for the new constitution has not ended, Dahal said, adding the struggle just has entered a new phase. He stressed that unity and consensus among political parties should be the key to see off the present political crisis.

He also revealed that his party actually wanted to impose emergency in the country, as the last resort, to extend CA’s term by six months as negotiations over federalism did not look heading to a conclusive end even at the eleventh hour. 



Dahal defended the government decision to go for fresh elections as, he argued, there could have been no more democratic option available, with CA facing certain dissolution. “The fresh polls will be held as per Supreme Court verdict,” Dahal said, claiming that his party would garner two-thirds majority in the elections so that the new constitution would not have to suffer another setback.

He ruled out any chances of constitutional vacuum in the country as the new elections, announced for November 22 this year, has been called and the CA dissolved also in line with the apex court´s verdict.

Dahal made it clear that PM Baburam Bhattarai will not step down immediately. He said a consensus government would be formed in the near future, claiming that NC and UML  rejoin the government in a few days. Dahal, however, said discussions then could be held to decided on the leadership of the new government.

Dahal further said he, while facing up to his ´historical´ duty of peace process and constitution writing as the Maoist chairman, did not fail even though the country could not get a new constitution this time. "I don´t concede that I failed. The history will prove this," Dahal said.


Source myrepublica

UML blames Maoists for present crisis

 Lack of commitment from UCPN (Maoist) and its failure to adhere to politics of consensus are the main cause that the country failed to deliver the new constitution through the Constituent Assembly (CA), CPN UML said on Monday.

Issuing a press statement after the party’s standing committee meeting at the party office in Balkhu, UML has said that the party made every effort to write a new constitution and even proposed extended parliament to settle all the disputed issues of the constitution writing process. 

However, the UML’s proposal was obstructed after the UCPN (Maoist) refused to cooperate rather made a unilateral announcement to dissolve the CA and a new date for fresh CA elections without forging consensus among the parties, the statement further reads. 

“The present government has lost its constitutional and political grounds to claim the premiership after it failed to adopt constitutional means for a fresh people’s mandate,” the UML has said. 

The UML has also urged everyone to unite to maintain peace and communal harmony in the country.


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People in Far west fear situation will worsen

Western Nepal curiously observed the desperate attempts by the power centers in Kathmandu on the last day of the Constituent Assembly (CA) on Sunday.

Expectations had been high that life would return to normal across the region once the new constitution was drafted. As the day wore on in a region plagued by numerous strike, that expectation gradually gave way to despondency as the inclusive constitution appeared distant. 

People were preparing to cautiously welcome the new constitution despite indications that it would not address all the voices. But the late news about the failure to draft the constitution has worsened the situation. The strikes that started with demands of an undivided far west region a month ago still continue and the civil society leaders fear that the days ahead would be more painful. 

"It is very difficult to even imagine the eventuality of non-issuance of constitution," civil society leader in Kanchanpur Nara Bahadur Saud told Republica. "It will lead the country toward anarchy and political vacuum." 

Most of the common people can´t even imagine what will happen now. They were hoping for a midnight miracle as in the past but were disappointed with the news of failure this time. "The failure to draft a constitution may invite many accidents in the future. It may even lead to the loss of all the accomplishments attained till now," Saud added.

People had hoped to celebrate Monday´s Republic Day with vigor with the new constitution but the bad news at the end has disappointed them. "We were expecting widespread celebrations after promulgation of constitution. It has now turned into disappointment," Registrar of the Far West University Hem Raj Panta said. He advised the leaders to learn from the failure and express commitment not to repeat the mistakes again in the future. "They should now attempt to improve communal harmony that have lately been strained," he advised.

Advocate from Baitadi Rajendra Saud had hoped that at least an incomplete constitution would be framed by midnight. "The people had fed the CA members even by staying hungry themselves. But the CA members didn´t complete their duty," he stated. He opined that the credibility of leaders will take a massive hit after this failure. 

"The democracy would be weakened if the leaders lose credibility," Chief of Mountain Multiple Campus, Dadeldhura Suresh Joshi concurred. Blasting the leaders for inability to complete the constitution despite extending the two-year tenure of CA by another two years. "The economy has been hit hard by the uncertainty prevailing in the country. This new development will worsen the situation," Joshi added.


Source myrepublica

Govt releasing 232 prisoners on Republic Day

The government has decided to release 232 prisoners from various jails across the country by exempting their remaining jail term on the occasion of the Republic Day on May 28.

The Department of Prison Management has said the prisoners who have served half of the jail term in a disciplined way despite growing age would be exempted from the remaining term and let free as per the Rule No. 29 of the Prison Regulation 2020.


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Crisis deepens as CA expires(with images)

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai late Sunday night announced a fresh election to the Constituent Assembly for November 22 despite opposition from his coalition partners.

The ministers representing the CPN-UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and other coalition partners walked out of the cabinet meeting which took the decision to call for fresh polls.

The decision has come after the CA term expired on Sunday. Prime Minister Bhattarai argued that the government was compelled to take the move. “There was no alternative [of the election] ...,” he said in a televised address to the nation, minutes before the CA term expired. 

Issuing a joint statement Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel, CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, Madhesi People’s Rights Forum-Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav and Rastriya Janashakti Party Co-Chairman Prakash Chandra Lohani opposed the decision.They said that they put all-out efforts to give continuity to the legislature-parliament by promulgating a constitution based on the agreements reached so far and entrusting responsibility to the transitional parliament to complete the remaining tasks. They claimed their sincere efforts went in vain due to the Maoist leaders’ reluctance.

“We tried our best to save the legislature-parliament and its achievements. But our proposals were not accepted,” the statement said. They accused the government of not listening to their concern that the fresh election can’t be announced without making some amendments to the interim constitution. The parties have accused the prime minister of trying to impose autocratic system by dissolving a most inclusively elected CA.They have demanded that the prime minister tender his resignation and pave the way for the formation of a national consensus government to save the country from a political quagmire.

Also, the UCPN (Maoist) dissident faction led by senior vice-chairman Mohan Baidya objected the government decision to go for fresh polls.
“This announcement made without the consent of other political parties and without any constitutional ground, is obviously unconstitutional,” said a statement issued by Baidya. “Therefore, we vehemently oppose it.”

Deputy Prime Minister and CPN-UML leader Ishwar Pokharel, Rastriya Prajatantra Party minister Parshuram Khapung, Minister Chandradev Joshi of CPN (Samyukta) and Kumar Belbase of CPN-ML, among others, announced their objection to the prime minister’s proposal for election.

PM Bhattari decided to opt for the new polls, after the last-minute efforts to find consensus at the CA chairman Subas Nembang’s office failed. Later, an emergency meeting of the Maoist standing committee decided to go for the fresh election. 

Though the major political parties have opposed the decision, PM Bhattarai has urged for consensus among the parties. 

“Though we failed to fulfill our duty this time, the people will be the judge. I do not want to blame anyone,” he said, adding, “We 
cannot move ahead without forging political consensus.” 

The prime minister said he continued to assume the executive powers and his government will hold the election. 

Expressing sadness over the failure to draft the new constitution, the prime minister urged the people to move ahead united.

He said the government decided to go for the fresh election because drafting a forward-looking new constitution upholding the aspirations of Dalits, Janjatis, Muslims, and oppressed society was not possible before the end of the CA term.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML and Nepali Congress (NC) leaders opposed the prime minister’s decision. UML leader and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said his party and the NC have objected to the prime minister’s proposal to go for fresh elections. 

Nepal said the ministers from his party walked out from the cabinet meeting as the prime minister, according to him, tabled the proposal for election all of a sudden without holding any discussion with other parties.

“The way the prime minister announced the election was completely against the constitution so we objected to this decision,” he explained. “The Maoists’ motive behind backtracking from the agreements reached with other parties is part of its strategy for capturing the state powers by force.”

Nepal also said the UCPN (Maoist) party is squarely responsible for the failure of CA and accused the Maoist leaders of never working sincerely for completing the constitution.

“They always believed in conspiracy and creating pressure on other parties instead of sincerely working for writing the constitution,” said Nepal. “At one time they [Maoists] encouraged lawmakers to launch signature campaign and then the Maoists provoked others [ethnic communities] to take to the street at such a crucial juncture.”

Also, NC General Secretary Krishna Sitaula said that the NC wouldn’t support the government decision to go for the new election. “The prime minister made the announcement as per the decision of the standing committee meeting of UCPN (Maoist) and not with the consent of other political parties,” said Sitaula.

CA chairman saddened
CA Chairman Subas Nembang expressed sadness over the failure to promulgate the new constitution from the CA. He said the CA failed to finalize the constitution despite the fact that a large part of the task of statute drafting had already been completed. 

“This is very sad that we couldn’t promulgate new constitution due to differences over only a couple of issues although we had already completed the major tasks,” said Nembang. “We did our level best to forge consensus but in vain as leaders from major parties couldn’t agree on giving continuity to the legislature parliament which was the best option available before us.”

PM addresses nation.



Lawmakers from various parties staging demonstration inside CA building premises. They are demanding that the top brass meeting be convened at the CA building, not at the prime minister´s residence in Baluwatar. (Photo: Dipesh Shrestha)



Representatives from various ethnic and marginalized groups stating sit-in in New Baneshwor near the CA building. (Photo: Dipesh Shrestha)
























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