Dahal put forward the proposal during a meeting with Deuba and NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi at the residence of Maoist Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai in Sanepa on Wednesday evening. [break]
“Let´s form a national unity government led by our party to conclude the peace process and constitution drafting. You could then be the prime minister and hold the first general election,” sources privy to the negations said.
But Deuba rejected the proposal outright saying his party cannot accept the Maoist leadership in the government unless the peace process reaches an irreversible stage. “So our party should lead the government first to conclude the peace process and constitution drafting, and then your party could lead the government to hold the first general election,” a source quoted Deuba as saying.
Bhattarai from the UCPN (Maoist) and Deuba from the NC are the two strongest candidates for the prime ministerial berth.
Senior leaders of the CPN-UML, including Madhav Kumar Nepal, KP Oli, Bam Dev Gautam, and Ishwor Pokharel, among others, have also decided to take initiatives to form a national consensus government to be led by major parties on a rotational basis.
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav has asked the political parties to form a consensus government by Sunday as per the article 38(1) of the interim constitution. If the parties fail to form such a government within the stipulated time, the party may request the president to extend the deadline. But if the parties fail again, the president would invoke article 38 (2) of the constitution asking the parties to form a majority government.
Meanwhile, Maoists are scheduled to hold talks with the UML at 11 pm Thursday.
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