On Saturday, a group of 25 Constituent Assembly (CA) members put pressure on the two leaders to give up their respective stances to pave the way for unity in the party. The party is now at the point of an unofficial split over the appointment of Gachchhadar as deputy prime minister and MPRF leader in the cabinet. Both the leaders have communicated their stances on reconciliation through emissaries.
The party establishment led by Yadav conveyed to Gachchhadar that the later should resign from the post of deputy prime minister as a first step for reconciliation. But Gachchhadar replied that Yadav should first revoke the expulsion of the seven party leaders, including himself, from the party.
Ram Sahaya Prasad Yadav, a senior leader close to Yadav, said that expulsion of the seven leaders can only be reversed if Gachchhadar quits the deputy prime ministership and apologizes to the party for joining the government without official party approval.
Meanwhile, the Gachchhadar faction has questioned the legality of the expulsion. The faction said that a Central Committee (CC) meeting was not convened. "We rejected Yadav´s condition for reconciliation because the action [of expelling the seven] was not taken by the Central Working Committee," said Upendra Jha, a senior leader close to Gachchhadar.
But Yadav on Friday said that an emergency CC meeting decided on the action against the seven leaders.
A Constituent Assembly member who claimed to be neutral said that both the leaders have faced “tremendous” pressure from leaders and cadres from the districts not to break up the party.
MPRF leaders said that central leaders have started coming to Kathmandu to avert a party split. “We are expecting a CC meeting in a day or two to discuss the crisis in the party,” said another leader who prefers not to be named, given the present critical situation of the party.
Will the government be in crisis?
MPRF Chairman Upendra Yadav on Friday announced withdrawal of his party´s support from the newly-formed government, accusing Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal of playing a role in splitting his party by appointing Gachchhadar as deputy prime minister without the party´s approval.
MPRF has 53 members in the Constituent Assembly (CA) while the government has the support of 354 members. On Friday, Yadav said that he had the support of 28 CA members, meaning a majority of CA members are with him. If Yadav´s claim is true, the prime minister enjoys the support of 326 CA members.
The future of the government now depends on how many CA members from MPRF rally behind Gachchhadar. If he continues to retain the support of 27 CA members who did not sign up in favor of Yadav on Friday, the government will continue with a simple majority.
The Interim Constitution and Constituent Assembly regulations says that the 27 CA members from MPRF cannot be stripped of their membership even if Yadav expels them from the party much in the way he did the seven leaders for not supporting him.
Besides, it may be recalled that the MPRF chairman on Friday announced he would not forge any alliance with other parties in pursuit of an alternative to the incumbent government.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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