Country headed for majority govt

KATHMANDU, Jan 27: As last-ditch efforts for a consensus government failed and the extended deadline for forming such a government of political understanding expired Wednesday, the country is now headed for a majority government.

With the political parties not requesting the President for more time to try forming a consensus government, Dr Ram Baran Yadav is turning to parliament Thursday for the election of a new prime minister.

The UCPN (Maoist), NC and CPN-UML held day-long bilateral and trilateral talks at Gokarna Village Resort on Wednesday in an effort to forge consensus on the next government.

But as in previous talks on power sharing, the parties came out with a decision to carry on with efforts at consensus. They are meeting again Thursday.

NC and CPN-UML leaders who participated in the meeting told Republica that the meeting ended inconclusively after they stood for a package deal on power sharing, the peace process and constitution writing while the UCPN leaders wanted the meeting to focus only on government formation.

“There was no consensus as the Maoists declined to address our concerns related to the peace process,” said an NC leader asking to be unnamed.

But Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha told Republica, “They were not ready for a package deal in the past. They pressed for a package deal today but there was no time to discuss all the issue in a package.” He added, “There should be no conditions for us to stake a claim to the government.”

Claiming that the talks were headed in a positive direction and the environment was becoming conducive, Shrestha further said the talks were headed in the spirit of forming a government under the leadership of the UCPN(Maoist).

The UCPN(Maoist), which was for a package deal in similar talks in the past, argued that the peace process should be discussed in the Special Committee and the constitution writing in the Constituent Assembly (CA), and these issues should not be linked with government formation.

“Their stance today reflects their internal political conflict,” said an NC leader participating in the meeting.

Lately, leaders close to Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai have accused Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal of handing over the PLA to the Special Committee without going through a proper process in the party as he was expecting to become prime minister. NC and CPN-UML leaders said this dynamic affected Wednesday´s talks.

“As this dynamic was clearly visible at the meeting, only top leaders and one each from the three parties are meeting on Thursday to try again for a government of consensus,” said a CPN-UML leader who participated in the meeting.

The NC and UML had argued at the meeting that the Maoist party should first be ready to determine the number of combatants to be integrated in the security agencies and also agree on the modality of integration after regrouping the combatants into three separate categories--those choosing for integration, those for voluntary retirement and those wanting rehabilitation.

Emerging from the meeting, CPN-UML senior leader KP Sharma Oli told journalists that the talks could not bear fruit because both the UCPN (Maoist) and NC staked claim for the leadership of a consensual government.

The meeting discussed forming a taskforce to set the criterion for a consensus government. Dahal was opposed to such a task force, arguing that his party did not want to head a government under various conditions.

“The media has already portrayed me as someone handing over command and control of the PLA to the Special Committee to become prime minister,” a NC leader quoted Dahal as saying. “We do not want to head the government on conditions.”

At the meeting, the prime minister urged the parties to reach consensus, stressing that a majority government would not work, going by the experience of two preceding governments -- one led by Dahal and another by himself, according to Shrestha.

NC, UML set terms for Maoist-led govt

The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML have agreed allow the Maoists to head the new government if the latter agrees to vacate cantonment within three to four weeks.

Top leaders of the NC and the UML agreed to do so after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal conveyed that Maoist Chairman Dahal during an informal meeting had agreed to vacate the cantonments in that timeframe.

However, as the leaders sat for formal negotiation, the Maoists rejected the proposal outright saying that the formation of government and peace process were two entirely different things.

“They insisted that the talks should focus only on government formation, not on issues relating to the peace process,” said a NC leader present at the meeting. “The Maoists said they are not ready to head government by fulfilling such conditions.”

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