Nepal Prez asks parties to form majority govt

Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, May 10 (PTI) In a bid to end the political
deadlock in Nepal, the President Sunday threw the ball to the
constituent assembly's court asking it to choose a prime
minister who will form the next government, as the parties
failed to meet a deadline for forging a consensus coalition.

The Saturday midnight deadline set by President Ram Baran
Yadav for the formation of an administration of national
consensus expired with the major political parties failing to
achieve a breakthrough.

Yadav issued a fresh notice to political parties to name
the Prime Minister on the basis of a majority vote, his press
advisor Rajendra Dahal told PTI. This means that whosoever can
muster the support of 301 members in the 601-member Assembly
will be appointed as the new premier.

"The parties did not reach a consensus and name a single
candidate so the president has asked Parliament to choose a
new Prime Minister by majority vote," Dahal said.

No date has been set for the vote till now.

Moderate leftists, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified
Marxist Leninist), holding its central body meeting Saturday,
decided to try and form a new government under its leadership
with the support of other parties, according to Shanker
Pokharel, a central member of the party.

Nepal plunged into a constitutional crisis when Maoist
leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' resigned as premier
after his decision to sack army chief Rukmangad Katawal was
blocked by the President.

The CPN-UML, the third largest party in Parliament with
108 seats, has hinted that its former general secretary Madhav
Nepal would be picked up as the prime ministerial candidate if
the party manages to muster enough support in the Assembly.

The CPN-UML is already in touch with Nepali Congress,
the second largest party in the Assembly, having 112 seats,
and it will also need the support from three ethnic Indian
Madhesi parties to form a majority government.

The Madhesi parties, with a combined strength of 83
seats in the Assembly, hold the key to breaking the political
logjam as any combine sans the Maoists (holding 238 seats)
will need their support to attain the majority.

Chhalfal weekly, the mouthpiece of CPN-UML, today mooted
Madhav Nepal as the new prime ministerial candidate claiming
that homework has begun to form a national government under
the leadership of UML. It also claimed that the party will get
support from the largest Madhesi party MPRF.

During the central committee meeting of the party, a
majority of the members have favoured Nepal as the PM
candidate, party sources said.

The MPRF has not yet decided whom to back, but has said:
"whosoever gives top priority to the Madhesi agenda will get
our support". The Maoists have also said the next government
will be formed under their leadership, claiming that they will
get the support from MPRF, which has 53 seats.

Meanwhile, in further blow to Maoist chief Prachanda, the
Supreme Court Sunday rejected the government's plea to vacate
a stay order allowing eight "retired" army generals to
continue in office. The government had refused to extend their
tenure, further straining ties between Prachanda and Katawal.
PTI