Koirala said the NC leadership was well aware of the Maoist intention to create confusion within the NC party. “The NC is capable enough to nominate a candidate on its own,” he told reporters in Biratnagar.[break]
He said the NC had already proposed its parliamentary party (PP) leader Ram Chandra Paudel as per the practice of fielding PP leader for the prime ministerial race. He said the party wouldn´t change its decision merely on the grounds that some Maoist leaders have given word-of-mouth support to some NC leaders.
“The NC can´t go against the decision of its parliamentary party and we will not withdraw Paudel´s candidacy,” he said.
Koirala claimed the names proposed by Maoists are not acceptable to the party.
While ruling out any possibility of withdrawing Paudel´s candidacy, Koirala made it clear that the NC is ready to accept the result. “If majority of lawmakers defeat Paudel´s candidacy, we will accept it.”
Expressing optimism that the country would get a new prime minister and government from the House session scheduled to begin on January 9, Koirala said, “As many issues have already been resolved, I am optimistic that the House session will elect the new prime minister this time around.”
On UNMIN, he said absence of the UN body wouldn´t pose any problem as the government-formed Special Committee was already in place to take over its responsibility.
“The Special Committee has already begun its work. There will be no problem even after the departure of UNMIN,” he said. “We are capable enough to resolve problems on our own.”
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