Prachanda to be sworn-in as Nepal Prime Minister

Kathmandu, Aug 18: Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal a.k.a. Prachanda will be sworn-in as the first Prime Minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal here on Monday, Aug 18.

Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Prachanda in a specially called swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan at Sheetal Niwas this afternoon. The ceremony will be attended by heads of all security forces, diplomats and top bureaucrats.

Prachanda won the prime ministerial election on Friday with the support of two other allies, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) by a huge majority. In the election in the Constituent Assembly (CA), he won 464 votes against his rival Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress, who got only 113 out of the 577 votes cast.

Senior leader of the (CPN-M) Baburam Bhattarai said that along with the new prime minister, a 23-member council of ministers is also expected to be sworn in.

The major three party leaders on Sunday finalised the drafts of the common minimum programme (CMP), code of conduct, and the new government''s modus operandi. The drafts would be signed by the leaders at a programme in Singha Durbar at 10 a.m. this morning.

According to nepalnews.com, the five-page CMP has set priorities such as timely drafting of new constitution, brining the peace process to a logical end, restructuring of the state, immediate relief to the conflict-affected people, integration of Maoist army into Nepal Army and implementation of past agreements, among others.

However, the alliance failed to diffuse the wrangling over the power-sharing issue on Sunday even after marathon parleys. Differences have arisen among the newly formed alliance after one of the allies, the MJF, demanded the post of the deputy prime minister including the foreign, water resources, communication, local development and education ministries.

The leaders informed that the issue of power sharing and the distribution of ministerial portfolios will be resolved by Monday, AUg 18.

Meanwhile, a four-member Indian delegation headed by Janata Dal (United) leader and chairman of Indo-Nepal Parliamentary Forum, Sarad Yadav, has arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday at the invitation of the Maoist leadership.

ANI