A marathon meeting of parliament´s Business Advisory Committee on Thursday set the date for filling the post that fell vacant after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal stepped down on May 4.
The committee also set out the schedule for Friday´s meeting. As per the schedule, outgoing Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will present his views at the beginning of the meeting.
Speaker Subas Nembang will then read out the letter received from the President´s Office to inform the House about the resignation of the prime minister, and the President´s message to the House to elect a new prime minister under Article 38.2 of the Interim Constitution.
After the caretaker prime minister addresses the House and the speaker reads out the President´s letters, the speaker will announce the date for election for a new prime minister, according to Nepali Congress Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire.
The meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday could not take place as the parties failed to reach an understanding on the agenda for Friday´s meeting and on the date for the new prime minister´s election. The prime minister´s scheduled address to parliament was also postponed at the last minute till Friday.
Coming out of the Constituent Assembly building where he had gone to give his last address in his present capacity, caretaker Prime Minister Dahal said he would be addressing the meeting Friday now that the agreement on the schedule had been reached.
Maoist leaders claimed that they decided to let the House run from Friday as the stance that they have been maintaining so far was addressed in parliament to some extent.
"We agreed to move the other process forward after the speaker took notice of the resolution we registered demanding reversal of the President´s move," said deputy leader of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Narayan Kaji Shrestha. "We agreed to enter the other process without discussing our resolution after the speaker assured us of a decision on it after due consultations with the political parties."
Leaders of the other parties, however, said the speaker will use his discretion in deciding whether or not to take up the resolution as an agenda item. "The speaker just informed the meeting that the Maoists have registered the resolution," said NC Chief Whip Ghimire.
There were other issues the Maoists raised on Thursday, including postponement of the election by a day.
"Maoist leaders requested one more day, saying they will also contest the election for a new prime minister and that 10 to 15 of their lawmakers were outside the capital," said Ghimire.
yuvraj@myrepublica.com
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