Nembang draws parallel between Dahal and Messi

KaTHMANDU, MAR 12 -
CA Chairman Subas Nembang has drawn parallel between UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Argentine footballstar Lionel Messi.
During his one-on-one talks with the Maoist chairman in Singha Durbar, Nembang said Dahal’s role is crucial like Messi for concluding the peace and constitution drafting processes. His remarks comes at a time when the deadline for resolving contentious issues ofconstitution making is expiring two days later.
“In the context of current political football, you are like Messi and you can only score goals to give a way out,” said Nembang. “You should be Messi for completing the peace process and constitution making processes.”
In response, Dahal reaffirmed his commitment to deliver on the twin tasks within the May 27 deadline. “There will be much difficulty, but we can deliver the newconstitution within the stipulated time,” source quoted Dahal as saying.
Nembang said the ongoing AFC President’s Cup Football tournament in Nepal inspired him to draw analogy between Nepali politics and Barcelona’s star Messi during his meeting with Dahal. The two leaders were present during the inauguration of the tournament on Thursday evening at the Dashrath Stadium where hosts Nepal was defeated by Palestine.
The speaker is a die-hard football fan who prefers watching even club championship, while Dahal is reportedly an occasional soccer aficionado. However, the Maoist chief sometimes prefers using terminologies related to soccer while making political remarks. According to a Maoist leader, one of such famous conversations is between Dahal and MaoistVice Chairman Mohan Baidhya ahead of prime ministerial elections in February lastyear. Dahal then had proposed the hardliner faction that the party should not wait for extra time or penalty shootout while taking a call on the leadership of the new government.
Convinced by Dahal’s argument, the Maoist party voted CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal to elevate him to the post of prime minister on February 3. The crucial vote had ended seven months of deadlock over election of the new government following the resignation of UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.