NC leaders met the prime minister at Baluwatar in the morning and told him that they would continue obstructing the parliament until the five-point deal is implemented. They also warned the prime minister against inducting new Maoist ministers.[break]
"We told the prime minister that NC would not support any moves that go against the agreements reached in the five-point deal," said Nepali Congress Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel, adding, "We have asked the prime minister to implement the five-point deal in both letters and spirit. The resignation of the prime minister is an important part of the deal."
NC President Sushil Koirala, senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and PP leader Paudel had reached the prime minister´s residence at 8 am. During the hour-long meeting, NC leaders also complained that the prime minister had failed to expedite peace process as agreed in the deal.
The three major parties -- UCPN (Maoist), NC and UML -- had agreed to conclude fundamental tasks of peace process by August 31. This now appears just impossible as there has not been any significant progress on the peace process front due to Maoist infighting that has intensified over the past one month.
Paudel said they told the prime minister that induction of new ministers in the cabinet at a time when he should be resigning would only vitiate the environment for national consensus.
Earlier, the Maoists submitted a list of 12 ministers and 12 state ministers to the prime minister for induction into the cabinet and have threatened to pull out from the government if the inductions do not take place. The prime minister is finding it difficult to salvage the government as the Nepali Congress and a section of the prime minister´s own party, CPN-UML, are vehemently oppposed to any induction.
In response to the NC´s demand, Prime Minister Khanal told the NC leaders that he was committed to implementing the five-point deal but House obstruction would not create environment for national consensus. "Bitter relations among parties would only help form a majority government yet again," the prime minister´s press advisor Surya Thapa quoted Khanal as saying.
While assuring NC leaders that he would step down once the parties agree on a consensus government, the prime minister asked NC to withdraw its protests and work responsibly saying the country is passing through testing times. Thapa claimed that the stress of the NC leaders was on the need for expediting the peace process and constitution writing and not on prime minister´s resignation.
Related story
Challenges and Success
