Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who was mainly left out of the new power-sharing process, has refused to resign from his position, one day after the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML struck an agreement to form a new political alliance and decided to change some parts of the constitution.
The UML and the Nepali Congress have reached a new understanding that has caused division in the political community. But the process of building a new government, which would be led by UML chairman KP Sharma Oli in accordance with the deal, is expected to be delayed by the prime minister’s choice to hold on and seek a vote of confidence.On Tuesday, a UML secretariat meeting requested all political parties to join the new government of ‘national consensus’ and contribute to political stability.
As per the Congress-UML understanding to form the government under Article 76 (2) of the constitution, the UML meeting also called on the prime minister to pave the way by Wednesday evening.“The meeting endorsed the agreement reached between the Congress and the UML,” Pradeep Gyawali, deputy general secretary of the UML, said after the meeting.Contrary to widespread expectations, the UML has decided to delay its earlier plan to immediately recall ministers from the Dahal Cabinet.“We don’t want more animosity [against the Maoist Centre] and so we did not recall our ministers today,” Gyawali said. “But if the prime minister does not pave the way for new government formation by tomorrow [Wednesday] evening, we will recall our ministers and take other necessary steps.”
“If the prime minister ignores UML’s request [to quit], our party will withdraw its support to the government.”The party has eight ministers in the Dahal Cabinet.The UML has also given a reason for its decision to sever ties with Dahal.“The prime minister was in talks with the Congress for a month in order to form a national consensus government, which created a situation of mistrust,” said Gyawali. “This ultimately forced us to initiate talks with the Nepali Congress.”After Congress rejected Dahal’s proposal, the UML and Congress started talking seriously to unseat Dahal, according to Gyawali.
“The UML and the Congress started talking and decided to move ahead together for political stability and democratic exercise,” he said. The UML meeting also endorsed the understanding with the Congress, expressing hope that a new government would ensure political stability, help mend the crisis-ridden economy, and address growing public frustration. Gyawali said his party had no plans to ditch the current coalition despite some internal issues. “We were prepared to give continuity to the government. But some interesting developments started unfolding in national politics. The prime minister started discussions about forming a national government without consulting anyone, prompting us to question the objective and necessity of such a government,” said Gyawali.
He also recounted Dahal’s history of kicking out the UML from the government within just 15 days of government formation last year. “So we became suspicious of the prime minister,” said Gyawali, “But Nepali Congress did not accept the prime minister’s request this time.” As the picture of the new government remains unclear, there is also confusion over Cabinet formation and discussions about power-sharing between the Nepali Congress, UML and other parties. “On Cabinet formation, we have reached a broad understanding with the UML, but we are yet to finalise the names of ministers,” a Congress office bearer told the Post.
Besides the UML, the Congress has also separately asked the prime minister to step down. On Monday midnight, Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML chair Oli also agreed to form a high-powered constitution review committee to suggest amendments to the constitution, bypassing key ruling partners like the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Rastriya Swatantra Party. Besides the Nepali Congress and the UML, other parties like the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, Janata Samajbadi Party (Upendra Yadav faction) have welcomed the new deal. Deuba, according to one Congress leader, also met CPN (Unified Socialist) chair Madhav Kumar Nepal on Tuesday evening and asked him to join the new political process.
Nepal responded that he would discuss the matter in the party. The CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Swatantra Party, and the CPN (Unified Socialist) have opposed the deal. The RSP, a key party in the government, said that it would remain in the government so long as the prime minister stays in office.
Source: Here