After the resignation of prime minister Jhala Nath Khanal on Saturday, uncertainty looms large over Nepali politics.
President Ram Baran Yadav called for a national unity government on Monday. He has set a week deadline for political parties to come up with a consensus prime ministerial candidate. A prime minister will be elected, if a national consensus government is not formed within the given deadline.
The major political parties have already laid claims on the prime minister's chair. The UCPN (Maoist) has been claiming the post in capacity of being the largest party in the parliament while NC has been arguing it is now NC’s turn to lead the government. However, UML has not shown interest in leading the government. It has already led the government two times in the three years.
“UML is not willing to lead the government,” said UML General Secretary Ishwar Pokharel.
A meeting of the three major parties on Monday ended with both the Maoists and the NC insisting that it should be the one to lead any new coalition government. UCPN (Maoist) has already fielded party deputy chairman Baburam Bhattarai for the post.
NC chief whip Laxman Ghimire said his party should lead the new government because the two other major parties failed in their recent attempts. However, the NC has not yet named its candidate. Sher Bahadur Deuba has been claiming the candidacy even if it is the parliament party leader Ram Chandra Poudel, who according to the party statute, is eligible for the post.
Deuba has been arguing that parliamentary party leader Poudel had failed to garner required votes in the PM election last time. Deuba is prepared to table a no confidence motion against Poudel in a central committee meeting on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the UCPN (Maoist) will have to fulfil a condition of initiating integration process to lead the government. Speaking in a program in the capital, NC leader Arjun Narsingh KC, a Maoist adversary, said that NC will allow the Maoists to lead the government only if they come up with a concrete plan to conclude the peace process.
Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal was forced to resign from the post as he failed to forge a consensus for a new government to complete the peace and constitution writing process. “Despite my honest efforts to forge a consensus, the peace and constitution process could not make headway and therefore I resigned from the post,” he clarified to the parliament on Monday.
During his address, Khanal argued that the UCPN (Maoist) and the NC were more responsible for his inability to complete the tasks. He also highlighted the tasks initiated by his government and the progress made so far in the national issues.
Khanal will continue as the caretaker prime minister until the political parties reach an agreement on the next set of government. There are only two weeks left for the CA term to expire. If the political parties fail to elect a new PM, the country will enter a constitutional crisis.