Chairman of Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Upendra Yadav has stated that the Election Commission has already given up on holding the general election in April-May.
"Everyone is clear that the election will not be held in April-May. Everyone has felt that. The Election Commission has also given up on holding election. There is no use diving for the election that will not be held," Yadav stated in a video interview with Setopati. "The question is whether to correct the regression or to go for election campaigning. Democratic right is important for a political protester. Revocation of the unconstitutional step (of House dissolution) is important. The whole country is almost together on this issue today."
He called for the need to correct the regression through joint agitation and added that discussions are on for that. "A few friends are waiting saying the court will revoke it. Discussion is being held even with Nepali Congress for joint agitation," he revealed. "The large section of NC, apart from a few, are in favor of agitation. NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba is neither in support nor against it. But he has called the prime minister's step wrong."
He stressed that there are no differences in JSP about House dissolution as its executive committee has unanimously called dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) unconstitutional, undemocratic and regressive.
He argued that endorsement of the House dissolution by the country will invite instability and conflict in the country. He claimed that Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli does not want an election pointing how Oli has expanded the Cabinet, transferred and promoted staffers and sold dreams of development after announcing the election.
He said that JSP will not run away from the election as all parties have faced it but contended that there is no meaning of holding an election after ending democracy and imposing autocracy. He pointed how elections were held even in the Panchayat regime but NC and communists did not participate.
He conceded that there may be competition to form the government after House reinstatement but stressed that the country will come back on the track and move forward in accordance to the Constitution.
He stated that fellow JSP leader Baburam Bhattarai and others in the party including him have already quit communist party and the cooperation with the Dahal-Nepal faction will only be to save democracy. "Our ideology and that of Pushpa Kamal Dahal do not match. They (Bhattarai and Dahal) have personal relation. There is no need to destroy personal relationship."
He said that JSP is still working to complete party unification which has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
