KATHMANDU, APRIL 13

Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal, which holds the key to formation of the next government, is undecided on who to support - the CPN- UML or Nepali Congress and CPN-MC.

A few days ago, the NC had held a meeting with the CPN-MC and JSP-N and sought their help to form the next government. The JSP-N has held its office bearers' meetings in the last few days, but has not been able to take a call on the issue as leaders' continue to differ on the next course of action. While Mahantha Thakur and Rajendra Mahato want to wait to see what Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's government does to address the party's demands, Upendra Yadav and Baburam Bhattarai say the party should unseat the Oli-led government.

Bhattarai and Yadav today met NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba. Neither the NC nor JSP-N provided details of what transpired in the meeting.

Bhattarai had recently said the JSP-N should play a larger role in national politics and lead the government, but Mahato was of the view that other parties would never offer premiership to the JSP-N.

If the CPN-UML, Nepali Congress or the CPN-MC want to offer premiership to the JSP-N, they should first decide and then only will our party take a call, Mahato said. 'We do not want to claim premiership as that will not materialise because we believe the NC, UML and CPN-MC won't offer our party premiership,' he added.

Mahato said there were leaders in his party who harboured the false hope that other parties would support the JSP-N's premiership claim.

Mahato said the major agenda of his party was to get its demands addressed, not engage in efforts to form the next government. 'We have been talking to the incumbent government about our demands, and if we get involved in forming the next government, then our efforts to get our demands addressed will be adversely affected,' he added.

JSP-N wants the constitution to be amended to address the identity question, passage of citizenship bill without delay and to secure the release of JSP-N cadres and leaders, who have been falsely indicted in criminal cases.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 14, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.