While Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who is also the president of Nepali Congress (NC), is in favor of reshuffling his cabinet, two other parties – CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist)—are pressing for a government under new leadership.
Although UML has not spoken officially about the leadership issue, a meeting of available politburo members of the UCPN (Maoist) held on Monday concluded that national consensus government can't be formed under Koirala's leadership.Nevertheless, NC continues to stake claim to the leadership of such a government.
Sources said Prime Minister Koirala has conveyed to other parties that he is not against forming national consensus government, but has maintained that such a government can be formed under his leadership by including new ministers in the cabinet from all major parties represented in the Constituent Assembly (CA).
Minister for Information and Communication Dr Minendra Rijal, who is also the government's spokesperson, said on Monday that Koirala is not averse to the idea of inducting new ministers in the cabinet. He argued that Koirala's government could be transformed into a national consensus government to deal with the post-quake challenges.
Rival faction led by Sher Bahadur Deuba wants Koirala out of office before the party holds its general convention in September. The general convention is set to elect new leadership of the party.
Likewise, a faction of the UML is desperate to make party chairman KP Oli a new prime minister. However, Madhav Kumar Nepal-led faction is more vocal than Oli-led faction in demanding a national consensus government. Nepal's candidacy from the UML has been floated from various quarters for leading the national consensus government.
The UCPN (Maoist) is also not an exception to this. The party that has been staying out of power since Khil Raj Regmi led cabinet was formed in March, 2013 wants to be in power anytime soon for obvious reasons. "This is the time for us to unite to carry out reconstruction works. Only a national consensus government can bring unity between political parties and help deal with the national crisis," argued Maoist Chief Whip Giriraj Mani Pokharel.
NC Vice President Ram Chandra Paudel said formation of a new government alone would not serve the purpose at this hour of national crisis. "The objectives of such a government should be clear at first. A national consensus government can be formed if there is an agreement between parties on promulgating the new statute, holding local level election and starting a campaign to build New Nepal. Else, there is no point in forming such a government," said Paudel.
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