Nepalese political parties gear up for talks on govt. formation

Kathmandu, August 13 : With only two days to go for Nepal's Prime Minister election by the Constituent Assembly (CA), all major political parties have stepped up their internal consultations in a bid to form a post-election government.

The major political parties of Nepal including the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) intensified talks as the filing of nominations for the Prime Ministerial candidates at the Constituent Assembly is scheduled for Thursday.

Incidentally, the parties were divided over the allocation of ministerial portfolios and whether to participate in the future government.

In a parliamentary meeting of the Nepali Congress today, the party lawmakers seemed widely divided whether to participate in the soon-to-be formed government.

According to Kantipur, during the meeting, some of the senior Nepali Congress leaders suggested that it would be appropriate to join the Maoist-led government only if the party was given a respectable position in the future government and the past pacts were strictly implemented. While the other Nepali Congress Constituent Assembly members said that the party should stay in the opposition without exhibiting the party's greed for power.

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction and Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel informed that the majority of his part lawmakers opined that the party should join the government only if after the implementation of past agreements, power-sharing and drafting of a Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

"Until now, we have forged an agreement on a common minimum programme, implementation of past pacts and power-sharing in a single package, that's why it seems that there is no agreement on any of the points so far," Poudel said.

Senior Nepali Congress leader and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba clarified the party lawmakers about the importance of power-sharing and holding the Defence Ministry by the party in order to take the peace process to a logical end.

Earlier in the day, the majority of the Nepali Congress central leaders floated the idea that their party should not join the government and stay as an opposition party at the party central meeting at the Prime Minister's official residence at Baluwatar.

ANI