The PP meeting took a decision to this effect as an overwhelming majority of the 28 lawmakers who spoke at the meeting urged party Chairman Jhalanath Khanal not to budge an inch from the neutral stance.[break]
The meeting also decided to urge both candidates -- Pushpa Kamal Dahal of UCPN (Maoist) and Ram Chandra Poudel of Nepali Congress (NC) -- to withdraw their candidacies to pave the way for a national consensus.
It endorsed a proposal to recommend to the UML´s Central Committee (CC) meeting, scheduled for Thursday, to stick to the position.
Five of the 28 parliamentarians said prolonging the prime ministerial election indefinitely in the name of finding consensus would damage the party´s image. Those for reviewing the present position included Deepak Karki, Thammaya Thapa, Ranadhwoj Kandangba Limbu and Pasang Sherpa.
A few other members including Ramnath Dhakal, while supporting the party´s present stance, criticized the party leadership for demanding Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s resignation without first forging national consensus. "You the chairman yourself pressed the prime minister to step down even when he commanded a majority in the House, leave alone leaders from opposition parties who persistently demanded his resignation," Dhakal said at the meeting. He implicitly criticized Khanal for supporting those who demanded Nepal´s resignation. "It was a mistake to press him to resign although he [Nepal] had frequently announced in public that he would not stay on in the post even a single day after the parties forged a consensus."
Dhakal and some other members opined that the party leadership can´t join or head a majority government after forcing its own leader to step down and compelling party Chairman Khanal to withdraw his candidacy for failing to prove a two-third majority in the House in the last minute of the first round vote.
In a heated debate, some other lawmakers including Yam Lal Kandel, Ravindra Adhikari, DB Karki and Savitra Bhusal criticized Nepal for withdrawing Khanal´s candidacy even after the latter garnered support from 391 lawmakers.
"Nepal should have been able to uphold the chairman´s candidacy, through an immediate political decision. But he failed to show magnanimity," Kandel said. The prime minister was not present at the meeting.
While some leaders in the CC are in favor of changing the stance after the fifth round vote, the PP has tried to pre-empt a decision at the party´s CC meeting scheduled Thursday. It has urged the CC to stick to the neutral stance. Eighteen CC members on Wednesday had written a note of dissent demanding another meeting of the party´s all-powerful body prior to the fifth round voting in parliament.
"Saran visits boost tourism"
Responding to questions raised by parliamentarians regarding Indian government ´interference´ in government formation here, Khanal said there was no need to worry over the visits of foreign envoys.
"Let more and more Shyam Sarans, Ram Sarans and Hari Sarans come to Nepal. Their visits will only help promote tourism. We don´t need to worry about their visits if we Nepali political parties take our decisions independently and stand united," Khanal said.
Referring to his talks with another former Indian ambassador to Nepal, KV Rajan, after Saran´s visit, Khanal told parliamentarians as telling him there were some mistakes that ignited reaction against his visit. "Saran told reporters he arrived here as a special envoy of the Indian prime minister, but both the prime minister and foreign minister here said they were not formally informed about the visit. Such things created confusion," he said.
NC wants to head govt even for 4 months
Khanal also told UML parliamentarians that while the Maoists have become ready to withdraw their candidacy the NC was not ready for that. "NC leaders have asked us to help them lead the government even if for just four months," he said.
He said UML is not for that option as it will be futile for delivering peace and the constitution.
Coming down heavily on those who rubbished his claim to have garnered support from 391 parliamentarians, he said he could publish all the written agreements reached for the purpose if needed.
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