Nepali Congress panel discusses govt formation & future course of action

A key committee of the Nepali Congress met on Wednesday to discuss Nepal's current political situation and the party's future strategy, a day after the Himalayan nation's largest political party struck a power-sharing deal with the CPN-UML to form a new government.

The Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman KP Sharma Oli finalised an agreement on Monday night to form a new government to replace the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.

The meeting of the Nepali Congress Central Work Performance Committee started at 9 am at party president Deuba's residence at Budhanilkantha to discuss the current political situation and the party's future strategy.

The meeting will review the latest political situation in the country and discuss the future course of action, said former foreign minister Narayan Prakash Saud.

The meeting will also discuss the agenda and modality of formation of the new coalition government, said Saud, who is also a Nepali Congress central member.

The deal finalised between the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML includes the sharing of the remaining three-year term of Parliament between the two parties, the ministerial division, provincial leadership roles and a rotation for the prime ministerial position.

Under the agreement, the CPN-UML chief Oli will lead the government in the first phase of the remaining term of Parliament. For the remaining term, Deuba will be the prime minister.

However, embattled Prime Minister Prachanda has refused to resign from the post and said he would rather face a vote of confidence in Parliament.

According to the constitutional provision, the prime minister losing a majority support in the House will be required to prove a majority within 30 days. The prime minister must seek a vote of confidence once a ruling alliance withdraws support.

This will be the fifth time Prachanda, 69, will seek a vote of confidence within a term of one and a half years.

The former guerilla leader has won three votes of confidence in Parliament.

The CPN-UML has already urged Prime Minister Prachanda to step down from the position so that a new government can be formed as per the constitutional provision.

It also asked all the political parties to join the national government under the leadership of Oli to bolster political stability in the country.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, the fifth force in the House of Representatives (HoR), has extended support to the new alliance, indicating that it would join the new government.

Nepal has had 13 governments in the last 16 years, indicating the fragile nature of the Himalayan nation's political system.