Kathmandu: Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ failed to reach a consensus with allies on a power-sharing deal as their talks ended inconclusively, giving rise to speculation about the stability of his government following his dramatic move to terminate the alliance with the Nepali Congress
Prachanda, a former guerilla leader, forged a new alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) – the second-biggest party – led by former premier KP Sharma Oli this week following which three ministers took the oath of office.
As the power-sharing deal among the members of the ruling alliance could not be materialized, Prime Minister ‘Prachanda’ failed to expand his cabinet even 24 hours after the new alliance government was formed, sources said.
Prachanda has kept 25 ministerial portfolios including those of Home, Defense, Foreign Affairs and Finance with himself as he hurriedly reshuffled the cabinet with the support of CPN-UML and appointed three ministers without portfolio. Padam Giri from the CPN-UML, Hit Bahadur Tamang from CPN (Maoist Center) and Dol Prasad Aryal from (RSP) took the oath of office and secrecy.
The talks held among Prime Minister Prachanda, UML chairman Oli, Janata Samajwadi Party chief Upendra Yadav and Rashtriya Swatantra Party president Ravi Lamichhane regarding the power-sharing deal and cabinet expansion ended inconclusively.
The four parties have a combined strength of 142 seats, which is sufficient to show a simple majority, said Rijal. “However, we are also trying to include other smaller parties including CPN-Unified Socialist (10) led by Madhav Nepal, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (4) led by Mahantha Thakur and Janamat Party (6) led by C.K Raut, in the alliance to get a comfortable majority,” he said. The CPN-US, LSP and Janamat have a combined strength of 20 seats.
The UML and RSP both have claimed the portfolio of Home, sources close to the ruling alliance said. Similarly, within the Maoist Centre, both senior leaders Narayankaji Shrestha and Barshaman Pun are claiming the portfolio of Finance.
