Kathmandu, June 2

Relations between the major coalition partners have soured lately after Home Minister Shakti Basnet transferred chief district officers and under secretaries using his authority and the prime minister spoke publicly against the gentleman’s agreement with CPN-Maoist Centre.

According to a member of the CPN-Maoist Centre, Prime Minister of the CPN-UML-led majority government KP Sharma Oli had complained to CPN-MC Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal about the transfers made without consulting him.

The Maoist leader claimed that Basnet had told Dahal that he could not work under inappropriate pressure from the prime minister.

He said the main concern of the CPN-UML was to transfer pro-Maoist chief district officers but the home minister refused to budge, urging the PM not to intervene in his jurisdiction under pressure.

Basnet had demanded prime minister’s concerns in writing but the chief district officers  and other under-secretaries had already left after receiving the transfer letter from of the home ministry, he said.

Though Maoist ministers, including Rekha Sharma and Haribol Gajurel, claimed that there was no hidden reason behind their absence in today’s Cabinet meeting, the act of ignoring the major task of the ministers to take part in the meeting suggests something fishy.

Meanwhile, CPN-MC Chairman Dahal expressed dissatisfaction with the Oli-led government during today’s politburo meeting, claiming that Oli’s government has been trying to escape the national consensus government deal with the help of ultra-nationalism.

He said national consensus government was not possible under Oli, as he had failed to resolve all the outstanding issues, including that of Madhesi and Janajatis, peace process and even the reconstruction works had been delayed.

Dahal clarified to the politburo that he was not interested in becoming prime minister, but the priority was to form national consensus government to ensure that the peace process was taken to its logical end and to expedite the reconstruction drive. He said the coalition partners were irritated by the budget.

CPN-MC leader Janardan Sharma, organising a press meet, had urged the UML led government to correct the imbalance in the budget.