CPN (Unified Socialist) has demanded chief minister (CM) of at least one province.
Unified Socialist Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal has made the demand during the meeting of top leaders of the five parties in the ruling coalition on Sunday.
The meeting ended inconclusively after CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli did not agree with that demand.
Nepal has also demanded that parties in the ruling coalition should get to equally share the spoils in appointments at the constitutional bodies. “We will not have any role in forming and saving the provincial governments in the current situation otherwise,” a leader who attended the meeting quoted Nepal as warning.
Bagmati CM Shalik Ram Jammakattel, who has called floor test for Monday, seems to be the first one to be affected by the stand of Unified Socialist formed after splitting from UML.
Unified Socialist parliamentary party leader in Bagmati Krishna Khanal has told Setopati that the current coalition has been formed merely for power and not for any ideology, and added that the party should also get a share in the spoils.
Unified Socialist has four provincial lawmakers in Koshi, seven in Bagmati, one (Deepak Manange) in Gandaki, one each in Karnali and Lumbini, and four in Far West.
Oli and Dahal had earlier finalized sharing of provincial governments with UML getting to lead in Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali, Maoist Center in Bagmati and Lumbini, and Janamat in Madhes.
They had agreed to give CM of Far West to Nagarik Unmukti Party if the party were to agree. But Nepal’s demand on Sunday has created problems for that power-sharing agreement.
The meeting between Maoist Chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Chairman Upendra Yadav held at Baluwatar on March 3 agreed to form a new ruling coalition. CPN (Unified Socialist) has also joined the coalition since then.
The previous coalition was formed around a year ago before the election for president after Dahal broke the then coalition with UML. NC, Maoist Center, JSP and Unified Socialist had then decided to revive the pre-election alliance.
Dahal had quit the pre-election alliance with NC and Unified Socialist on December 25, 2022 and became prime minister (PM) with support of CPN-UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party, RPP, Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party after Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba refused to make him PM first.
Oli had assured NC that UML will not ally with Maoist Center at any cost and would instead ally with NC to form the new government to encourage Deuba to break the agreement to make Dahal PM first.
Dahal was constitutionally required to seek floor test again after the largest party in the House, NC, decided to withdraw support from the government.
