Kathmandu, June 5: Nepal's 22 opposition parties are gearing for a massive anti-government protest here on Friday demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Bhattarai for his “unilateral” and “unconstitutional” decision to hold fresh elections in the country without consulting them.
Forming an alliance, 22 parties, including Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, have been campaigning for a gathering of more than 150,000 people to exert pressure for the removal of Maoist-led government and form a national unity government.
The opposition has alleged the Maoist Prime Minister of making efforts to capture state power by unilaterally and unconstitutionally dissolving the 601-member Constituent Assembly on the pretext of holding elections on November 22.
“What the Maoist led government did on May 27 was no less than the coup staged by former Kings Mahendra, in 1960, and Gyanendra in 2005,” Nepali Congress central member Gopal Man Shrestha said.
Meanwhile, the dissident faction of the Maoist party led by Mohan Vaidya “Kiran” has also indicated that they may support the opposition campaign.
On the other hand, Maoist chief Prachanda has alleged that the two main parties - Nepali Congress and CPN-UML - were responsible for the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. Speaking at an interaction here today, he claimed that the NC and CPN-UML were against incorporating federal structure in the new constitution and that led to the failure to draft the constitution within the deadline of May 27.
Caretaker Prime Minister Bhattarai, speaking at the interaction, said that there was no other way than to go for fresh elections through dissolution of the Constitution after the parties failed to give the constitution within the stipulated time frame.
Meanwhile, President Ram Baran Yadav is busy holding political and legal consultations before making any decision whether to endorse Prime Minister Bhattarai's call for fresh election or not.
