Deuba has been exerting pressure on Koirala to nominate him as the party´s parliamentary leader as per the agreement reached while endorsing the names party´s top office bearers at the Central Committee meeting on April 22.[break]
The Deuba faction had supported Koirala´s nomination of Ram Chandra Poudel for the post of party vice president and Krishna Prasad Sitaula as one of the two general secretaries after Koirala assured that he would be nominated as the party´s parliamentary party leader.
Leaders close to Deuba faction have been pressing Koirala to transfer the responsibility of parliamentary party leader to Deuba so that the party may garner support of other parties when it fields a prime ministerial candidate for a national consensus government.
Talking to media persons before flying to the US for health check up, President Koirala said, “I and Sher Bahadur have reached no written or verbal agreement in that regard.”
Koirala also said that issue of who should be fielded as the prime ministerial candidate would be settled as per the party´s parliamentary statute if the Nepali Congress got an opportunity to lead the new government.
He also asked Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal to step down immediately as per the five-point deal. “It is not appropriate of him to stay in the position after agreeing to step down,” he added.
Koirala also warned that his party would not allow the government to introduce the new budget in parliament unless there is a tangible progress in the peace process.
Koirala has an appointment for a regular follow-up health check-up in New York on June 23. Koirala underwent surgery for tongue cancer two years ago. He visits to the US every year for a check-up.
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