While the party is being accused of holding the country hostage in not casting its vote for any of the two candidates, UML leaders say they are still not in a position to review their decision. [break]
Even the KP Sharma Oli faction, which maintains good rapport with the Nepali Congress (NC) and also commands a majority in the CC, does not seem to be in the mood to lobby strongly in favor of voting for NC candidate Ram Chandra Poudel.
Prithivi Subba Gurung, who is believed to be close to Oli, said while there is no chance of voting for a Maoist-headed government, there is no point in supporting NC candidate Poudel either since that will not pave the way for a national consensus government.
"Our party is for forming a government comprising at least four major political forces-- UML, UCPN (Maoist), NC and Madhes-based parties. Supporting Poudel in this situation doesn´t pave the way for that purpose," he said. "So I see very little possibility of the CC taking a decision to support Poudel."
Leaders close to party chairman Jhalanath Khanal seem confident that the CC will stick to its decision to stand neutral.
"If anyone is expecting the UML to change its decision, he/she will be proved totally wrong," said Ghanshyam Bhusal, who is close to the party chairman.
Some politburo and CC members said even Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and senior leader Oli, who favor NC-led government, are unlikely to press hard in the CC meeting to change its earlier stance since it might invite serious consequences in the party. "Leaders have realized that some lawmakers could cross the floor in the parlaiment if the party decided to vote in favour of NC candidate Poudel," said a central committee member.
The possibility of the UML reviewing its decision has become slimmer also in the wake of Maoists´ proposal to the NC leaders to withdraw the candidacies of both the parties to strike a deal among the partties about the future of the government leadership. The Maoist proposal is exactly what UML Chairman Khanal has been lobbying for since he was forced to withdraw his candidacy during the first round of voting as he failed to secure support of 401 lawmakers.
Related story
Change of Guard and OBOR
