Nepali Congress to stay in government

Kathmandu, April 17 (UNI) The Nepali Congress (NC) Party of Nepal has decided not to withdraw from the interim government before the first Constituent Assembly (CA) meeting despite the defeat in the polls and withdrawal of Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) from the government.

An informal meeting of the party Central Working Committee (CWC) held today at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar took the decision to this effect, stating the party president himself is leader of the interim government, local media quoted Minendra Rijal of the party as saying.

The first meeting of the CA will decide the future of the monarchy and the Maoists have said ''the king should go gracefully.'' ''Today's meeting also directed the district committees to prepare reports within five days reviewing the reasons of its unexpected defeat in the CA elections,'' Mr Rijal said.

During the meeting, the party CWC members told PM Girija Prasad Koirala that lack of security to the candidates and the voters during the polling process was the main reason for the party's loss, he said.

All seven ministers of the CPN-UML have jointly tendered their resignation to Prime Minister Koirala following the defeat in the election.

Maoist party has emerged as the largest party in the election with 119 seats of the 220 declared results and the party is also leading in PR voting. However, the party is not in a position to get simple majority in the polls.

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