At a time when growing number of leaders of mainstream political parties are questioning the rationale behind Maoists’ demand for Constituent Assembly, member of the Maoist negotiating team Dev Gurung said Tuesday that his party was ready to take back the demand if there was widespread consensus on it, reports from the district said.

Speaking at a press conference organized in Pokhara, Gurung said that his party was ready to withdraw the demand if the King and the mainstream political parties agreed for the same. He however expressed doubts that the King and the CPN (UML) would ever show the readiness for such a consensus.

Meanwhile, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, chief Maoist negotiator for peace talks told a press conference in the capital that his party would force the rulers of the old establishment to head for the jungles if the talks failed. “We will force the rulers of the old establishment to the jungle and take control of the state affairs,” Dr. Bhattarai said on the query about his party’s move if the peace talks failed.

He also emphasized the need to constitute a national army to serve the nation and not a ‘particular institution’. Dr. Bhattarai said the round table conference proposed by the Maoists would pave the way to merge the peoples’ army with the Royal Nepalese army.

Leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), K.P. Sharma Oli addressing a separate programme in the capital said Tuesday that the Maoists’ demand for a Constituent Assembly was inappropriate since many of the existing problems could be resolved through the present Constitution.