Fate of prez, veep in the hands of parties: Jha

KATHMANDU, NOV 04 - Vice President Paramananda Jha has made it clear that he and President Ram Baran Yadav will continue in their posts as long as the political parties want. He added that the nation is being run on the basis of political agreement rather than constitution.

"Provisions mentioned in the constitution are in one direction while the parties' decisions are in another. Nothing has happened in line with the constitution," said Jha at a press conference organised in the Capital on Sunday.

VP Jha remarked that the tenure of the ceremonial head of the sate and his deputy provisioned in the constitution does not hold any meaning since the last amendment to the interim constitution was not based on the constitution but was instead agreed by the political parties.  "I don't think the future will move ahead in accordance with the constitution," said Jha.

He said that he has no longing to prolong his tenure but wants to see timely drafting of the new constitution.

Saying that people are not in support of the poll-boycotting CPN-Maoist, Jha said the party will be boycotted itself in the long run. "It is not the nation that will have to face the consequences of their refusal to join the elections but the party [CPN-Maoist] itself," he said.

He said that the concerned stakeholders have been campaigning to create the environment for holding the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections and expressed his commitment to continue the campaign throughout the elections.