Nepal PM meets Deuba, Dahal; says will not resign till budget approved

Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli on Monday met Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal and said he will not resign until the 2016-17 budget got the House approval.

The Oli government is facing a no-confidence motion in Parliament after the Maoists withdrew support. Reduced to a minority, it is facing the problem of garnering enough votes to get the budget passed.

The no-trust motion moved against the Oli government by the Nepali Congress and the Maoists will be discussed in Parliament on Thursday.

According to Bishnu Rimal, Chief Political Adviser to Oli, the latter made it clear that either the Nepali Congress and Maoists should carry on with the no-trust motion or should stick to the demand for his resignation.

"The no-trust motion and resignation cannot go together. So I am going to face the no-trust motion," Oli told Deuba and Dahal, adding that they have to choose one of them.

"I will not go against the Constitution. I am ready to face the no-trust motion, but tell me what I should do -- resign or face the no-trust motion."

He also told the two former Prime Ministers that the new government can be formed only after removing the constitutional complexities.

Rimal said that during the meeting, the Prime Minister said there is no clear-cut provision in the Constitution on the new government's formation.

"We need to amend the Constitution. To amend the Constitution, we have to agree on some kind of a political agreement. If you try to sack me in guerrilla style, it is not acceptable; so there must be an honourable pact," Rimal quoted Oli as saying.

Though there are constitutional complexities for the formation of the new government, Oli made it clear that he will not dissolve the House.

Parliament's term will expire after 18 months and constitutional provisions mandate the government to hold elections within this period.

The meeting was called by the Prime Minister as legal experts in Nepal are divided over the formation of the new government as per the constitutional provisions.

The pro-government legal experts have said that the new Constitution is silent over the formation of the new government during the transitional period while those in the opposite camp say there is enough room in the Constitution to form the new government under any political circumstances.

After the meeting, Dahal said: "We advised the Prime Minister to step down since his government has been reduced to a minority."

--IANS

giri/tsb/bg