Kathmandu: Nepal’s main Opposition party the Nepali Congress has decided to stake a claim for the Prime Minister’s post, a day after the President called on political parties to form a new government by Thursday as the one headed by K P Sharma Oli lost a crucial trust vote.
The decision to form a new government was taken after the office bearers of the Nepali Congress (NC) met on Tuesday. The party, led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, has the backing of the Nepal Communist Party Maoist Centre (CPN-MC) and hopes to get the support of Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal’s (JSPN) lawmakers.
The Office of President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Monday said she has decided to invite parties to form a majority government pursuant to Article 76 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal.
It also hopes to influence lawmakers of the CPN- UML faction led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal to help it form the government, The Himalayan Times reported.
The NC has 61 and the CPN-MC 49 lawmakers in the 271-member House of Representatives. The party will need 26 more lawmakers to form a coalition government led by it. The JSP-N, with 32 lawmakers, will play a key role in the formation of the government, the report said.
A faction of the JSP-N led by Mahantha Thakur and Rajendra Mahato, which has 15 lawmakers who stayed neutral in Monday’s floor test, has yet to decide whether to support a coalition government led by the NC.
“The JSP-N is divided on the issue. We hope that the JSP-N will support us in forming the government by the Thursday deadline,” NC Joint General Secretary Prakash Sharan Mahat told reporters after the meeting on Tuesday.
He said Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ who leads the CPN-MC had assured the party his support in formation of the next coalition government led by the NC.
If the JSP-N does not support the NC, the party hopes to influence 28 lawmakers of the UML’s Nepal-Khanal faction to resign en masse.