PM Dahal wooing smaller parties

KATHMANDU, May 16: At a time when Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) are trying to cobble up a majority in the Constituent Assembly (CA) in favor of their alliance to form new government, Prime Minister and Chairman of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Pushpa Kamal Dahal, too, has intensified his consultations with small political parties.



Dahal consulted Nepali Janata Dal (NJD) Chairman, Haricharan Shah, Saturday morning. Two lawmakers – Dr. Vishwanath Prasad Agrawal and Shah’s daughter Gayatri Shah – represent NJD in the CA. Agrawal has already supported the alliance jointly led by NC and CPN-UML, which has proposed senior UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal as prime ministerial candidate for the new government. [break]



Prime Minister Dahal also met Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) Chairman, Kamal Thapa, earlier in the morning to discuss on formation of new government. Prime Minister Dahal had proposed Thapa to support Maoist-led alliance.



“We discussed about new government formation. Prime minister is positive about my suggestion,” coming out from the meeting at prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar, Thapa told reporters, adding, “Any government without Maoist participation cannot take the ongoing peace process to a logical end.” He, however, declined to reveal what his "suggestion" to the prime minister was.



RPP-N has four lawmakers in the 601-member CA. Thapa had met NC President Girija Prasad Koirala on Friday. Koirala is lobbying for UML´s Madhav Kumar Nepal´s candidacy.



Unified CPN (Maoist) is trying to form a new coalition against the alliance jointly led by NC and CPN-UML.

Related story

Role of smaller parties may change but they won’t become irrele...