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Nepal on the brink of political chaos: Report

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, May 28, IRNA -- With barely hours left for the term of the Constituent Assembly to end, Nepal sank close to political chaos Friday with the rival parties deadlocked over an agreement on extension and a last minute meeting of the lawmakers failing to take off.

The lawmakers had planned a last minute meeting to avert a crisis. But the meeting failed to take off and officials did not give any reason for why the meeting had not taken off.

But the move for a late compromise fell through after the Maoists made it clear they would vote against the extension of the Constituent Assembly. The Unified CPN-Maoist Standing committee has directed its members not to vote in favour of the Assembly extension unless the Prime Minister tenders his resignation.

"There is no meaning in extending the term unless the Prime Minister resigns to guarantee peace and constitution making", Maoist spokesman Dinanath Sharma declared in Kathmandu.

Meanwhile, informal meetings are going on as last minute efforts to sort out differences, PTI reported quoting political sources. With uncertainty looming large, whether a state of emergency would be declared and President's Rule imposed, the Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's office refuted reports that he had resigned.

In a statement, his Press advisor Bishnu Rijal said some people had used his fake e-mail address to issue "a fake statement" about the Prime Minister, having told the Parliament that he was going to resign. "This is totally false and baseless", the statement said.

The two year term of the Constituent Assembly is set to end by mid-night today and the country's Assembly was meant to draft a new constitution to guide the country through the years of civil war and upheaval, but the Constituent Assembly had been deadlocked.

An emergency meeting of the Assembly summoned by President Ram Baran Yadav failed to secure a breakthrough. Two years of bickerings among the political parties has produced no agreement on the wording of the new constitution and the Maoists who hold the highest number of seats are refusing to vote for a bill to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly, unless the Prime Minister stands down.

Even a last miniute appeal by the UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon urging the leaders to put national interest first failed to impact the lawmakers.