The five-hour SC meeting on Thursday upheld its previous decision to appoint party Secretary Bishnu Paudel as home minister, Bharat Mohan Adhikari as finance minister and Gangalal Tuladhar as education minister.
"Since the party on February 6 decided to appoint Paudel as home minister, Adhikari as finance minister and Tuladhar as education minister, we thought there was no need to take a fresh decision on the same issue," SC member KP Sharma Oli told reporters after the meeting.[break]
The UML´s decision comes at a time when the largest coalition partner, UCPN (Maoist), has refused to join the government unless it gets the home portfolio. Only three ministers -- Paudel, Adhikari and Tuladhar -- were sworn in for the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, who was elected to the post on February 3.
Party Vice-chairman Bamdev Gautam, who is close to Khanal, admitted that the meeting concluded the UML has to keep the home ministry for itself.
The UML also formed a four-member talks team headed by the prime minister. Former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Oli and party General-Secretary Ishwar Pokharel are in the team.
Oli said they would hold intense dialogues not only with the UCPN (Maoist) but also the Nepali Congress (NC) and other political parties in connection with giving the cabinet full shape.
Asked when the cabinet would get full shape, Oli said it will happen as soon as the party forms a talks team for the purpose.
The prime minister could not get his proposal endorsed by the meeting as six leaders in the 11-member SC stood against allowing the Maoists to head the home ministry. Only four members including Khanal himself supported his idea that the Maoists should be brought into the government even if they demand home ministry. Nepal, Oli, Bidya Bhandari, Paudel, Ishwar Pokharel and Shankar Pokharel are dead against the Maoists leading the home and defense ministries while Khanal, Gautam, Ashok Rai and Yuvraj Gyawali believe there is no need to hesitate in giving the Maoists the home ministry.
According to a SC member, the leaders decided to form the talks team after Nepal and Oli claimed that the Maoists can be persuaded to join the government even without the home portfolio. "Both the leaders -- Nepal and Oli -- said that they had found UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai flexible about joining the government even without being given the home ministry. Therefore we decided to approach the Maoists in an institutional way," the member said.
The decision was taken even though the prime minister had requested settling the issue at the earliest, saying his government was facing serious difficulties due to protracted dispute over power-sharing. "Give me an outlet as soon as possible," one leader quoted him as saying.
The Nepal-Oli faction has been saying that the Maoists must not be allowed to head security-related portfolios until the former rebel party transforms completely into a civilian one.
At the meeting, Nepal also suggested Khanal look after the security-related ministries himself for at least the next one month but Bhandari said the prime minister should head the home and defense ministries for two months. "Their argument is that some crucial issues related to the peace process should be resolved within one or two months and then there will be no objection to the Maoists leading those ministries," said a party leader.
The standing committee also decided to call the party´s politburo and central committee meetings for February 20 and 22 respectively.
The meetings are to brief party leaders on the latest political developments and make matters clear to them.
NC for staying in opposition: Paudel
Commenting on the decision of the UML Standing Committee, leader of the main opposition NC Ram Chandra Paudel said the NC will play the role of a responsible opposition and cooperate constructively with the government.
Asked how his party has taken the UML decision to talk to his party on joining the government, he said, "The party has already decided to remain in the opposition and everything will depend on how politics unfolds."
Related story
PM Dahal to expand his Cabinet tomorrow, two new ministers to b...
