Less than 24 hours after agreeing to form a national consensus government, the parties have once again gotten into a spat over defining yesterday’s agreement. The NC and UML insist that the Maoists and Madhesi parties had agreed to dissolve the current government to form a new cabinet but the Madhesis have rubbished the claim, saying that they merely agreed to reshuffle the cabinet to accommodate the two parties.
The optimistic headlines carried by mainstream dailies evaporated by afternoon as leaders from different parties made conflicting statements. “The agreement was for the reshuffling of the cabinet, not for dissolving it,” says Minister for Communication Rajkishor Yadav. NC leader Minendra Rijal told Nepali Times, “The Maoists have already agreed to dissolve the cabinet in order to form a consensus government but some Madhesi leaders are refusing to give away the portfolios.” But Yadav argues taht it is unfair to blame Madhesi front for the confusion created by other parties. Says Yadav: “If NC and UML join the government with an intention to work with us, I will be the first one to step aside to make way for them. But they cannot create rumours and then demand that the cabinet be dissolved.”
Amid the confusion and media mongering, top leaders are meeting to clarify yesterday’s agreement. After the meeting, there will be an all party meeting to formally sign a written agreement that will pave way for the NC and UML to join the government under Bhattarai’s leadership. Prime Minister Bhattarai is expected to make announcement later in the evening which means that CA meeting called for today is likely to be cancelled.
However, NC’s insistence that they should be allowed to lead the government after 27 May, as soon as the deal on constitution is done will make it difficult for parties to find a common ground. “This is no time to be baking your own cakes.” says NC’s Gagan Thapa. Leaders within NC have been taken aback by leadership’s posturing and say the party should focus on writing the constitution instead of looking to lead government at the moment.
Anurag Acharya