The Thakur-Mahato faction of Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), that is considered crucial in the power dynamics, has decided to remain neutral during the floor test sought by Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli.
JSP leaders Mahantha Thakur and Rajendra Mahato, who have preferred to ally with Oli until now, met Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba at the latter's residence in Budhanilkantha Sunday morning and told him that the faction will not take part in voting.
"Deuba asked us to vote against the government. We said we cannot vote against Oli government as some of our demands have been addressed. We said that we cannot vote for the government as well because some of our demands have yet to be met," Mahato told Setopati after the meeting with Deuba.
Deuba then proposed power sharing with the two leaders to form the government after Oli fails the floor test, according to Mahato, but the two leaders rejected the proposal to join the government.
"We are not in the rat race for power. Power and government are not the party's priority now as our demands have yet to be met. The party will not benefit from that," Mahato reasoned. "We told Deuba to not try to form new government by splitting our party. We pointed that will not be in accordance to democratic norms."
He revealed that the leaders, however, told Deuba that the party will participate if an election government were to be formed.
Deuba is currently taking initiative to form the next government with support of CPN (Maoist Center) and JSP if Oli fails the floor test.
The two leaders went to Baluwatar to talk with Oli after the meeting with Deuba. Mahato said the two leaders asked Oli about withdrawal of cases against the party's leaders and cadres.
Oli in response stated that some cases can be withdrawn only with permission of the court and pointed that others have already been withdrawn.
"We told Oli that we cannot give vote of confidence. Our demands have not been full addressed," Mahato said. "We said we will not even vote against the government and stay neutral."
Oli looks highly unlikely to pass the floor test now that lawmakers of the Khanal-Nepal faction of CPN-UML are likely to resign before the floor test. He will fail even if the Khanal-Nepal faction supports him now that the Thakur-Mahato faction has decided to remain neutral.
JSP, which has 34 House of Representatives (HoR) members including two suspended lawmakers, is divided on whether to support Oli or not. JSP leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Upendra Yadav, coming from erstwhile Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, have publicly demanded toppling of Oli government while leaders from the erstwhile Rashtriya Janata Party like Thakur and Rajendra Mahato have been negotiating with Oli.
The Yadav-Bhattarai faction has 17 lawmakers and claims that the number can rise up to 22. The Thakur-Mahato faction is in minority in both the party and parliamentary party.
