After the meeting of the 17 small parties at Singha Durbar on Thursday, Laxmi Lal Chaudhary, who coordinated the meeting, said, the parties held serious discussions and concluded that the prime ministerial candidate must be picked from among the existing 601 parliamentarians. [break]
The meeting was held amid rumors that new leaders could be sworn in as CA members to be fielded for the prime minister´s post.
Earlier, Madhav Kumar Nepal, who was defeated in the CA election, was sworn in as CA member and later elected as prime minister on May 24, 2009.
Chaudhary, who is also the chairman of Nepal Loktantrik Samajwadi Dal, said 22 small parties in the CA are ready to facilitate formation of a national consensus government.
Leaders from Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (Democratic), Tarai Madhes Democratic Party, Sadbhawana Party, CPN-ML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, CPN (Samyukta), Rastriya Janashakti Party, Federal Democratic National Forum, Dalit Janajati Party, Samajbadi Prajatantrik Janata Party, Chure Bhawar Ekata Party and Nepal Family Party attended the meeting.
The parties also urged the UCPN (Maoist) to agree on the work plan to take the ongoing peace process to a logical end and promulgate new constitution within a stipulated deadline as agreed in the number one point of the three-point deal reached on May 28. The parties maintained that since two other points, including resignation of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal, have already been implemented, it is the duty of the Maoists to forge consensus.
A delegation of the small parties had met CA Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang after the meeting. They have asked Nembang to immediately call a CA meeting to expedite constitution drafting and demanded that all thematic committees under CA start their work immediately.
Rastriya Janashakti Party Co-Chairman Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani said the small parties have demanded formation of a national consensus government. “The government formed by forging consensus among the big three parties can not be a national consensus government,” he said. “It should be formed by forging consensus among all parties in the Constituent Assembly.”
Related story
Small parties oppose common election symbol
