“With the UML deciding to vote against our candidate we have almost no hope of garnering adequate majority in parliament. We are caught in a dilemma of whether or not to withdraw Poudel´s candidacy before he is voted down in parliament,” confided a senior NC leader, asking to be unnamed. [break]
In the two-point agreement reached on Thursday, the UCPN (Maoist), the NC and the UML agreed to give priority to formation of new government in the regular session of the House to be called within a week. Various parties, including the UML and UCPN (Maoist), are set to vote against Poudel´s candidacy in bid to exert moral pressure on the NC to start the process of electing the new prime minister afresh.
“Though there is no legal obligation, we will have to withdraw Poudel´s candidacy if more than 301 lawmakers vote him down,” said NC leader Arjun Narsingh KC. “We will have to do that both on moral and political grounds.”
Sources said an informal meeting of NC senior leaders was held at the residence of the party president Sushil Koirala recently to discuss the fate of Poudel´s candidacy. The meeting concluded that NC as a democratic party should withdraw Poudel´s candidacy.
Nevertheless, NC leaders are divided over whether to withdraw Poudel´s candidacy before or after the next round of prime ministerial voting in parliament.
Leaders close to the establishment faction have maintained that they should withdraw Poudel´s candidacy as it would be morally difficult to field Poudel as the candidate for prime minister in the new voting process if he is voted out in the 17th round itself.
According to party insiders, NC is in a mood to engage ruling parties to agree on government leadership that is acceptable to all. “NC is open to all options, including withdrawal of the prime ministerial candidacy, if there is credible ground for formation of new government and government leadership acceptable to us,” said Dr Ram Sharan Mahat at a function organized by Reporters´ Club, Nepal.
Dr Mahat said that NC won´t withdraw its candidacy without forging agreement on the modality and leadership of new government. “We are not ready to leave the bird that is already in our hand just because there are many birds in the forest,” he added.
Asked about possible NC move if majority of lawmakers vote Poudel out in the next round, Dr Mahat said, “Don´t talk about hypothetical things now. Things change in a matter of days in politics. One week is considerably a long time for things to change in politics.”
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