KATHMANDU, JUNE 26

Leaders from the five-party opposition alliance today reiterated their commitment to save the constitution and democracy.

Speaking at a press conference here today, CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal said their alliance was not governed by self-interest but by a desire to save the constitution and democracy as Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was a threat to both.

Dahal said he had turned down the offer of prime ministership after the last general election for a greater cause and this time too he had made it clear that he would not become the PM. He said even Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba agreed to vie for the PM's post after other leaders of the alliance urged him to do so.

Dahal said the House of Representatives should be reinstated and Deuba appointed the new PM as he had the support of 146 members of the dissolved HoR.

Nepal said he would not be enticed by anybody to leave the five-party alliance because he had decided to join the alliance against 'Olism' and not against PM Oli himself. He said power, influence, and money had ruined Oli and any attempt to change him would be in vain.

Deuba said President Bidhya Devi Bhandari should have appointed him the prime minister when he submitted signatures of 149 members of the dissolved HoR to her. He said if the president had any doubt about the support, she could have verified it by asking HoR members to be present in the President's Office.

Deuba said the Supreme Court could not appoint a new prime minister but being the final interpreter of the constitution, it could interpret articles of the constitution.

Deuba had submitted signatures of 149 HoR members to the President's Office on May 21, seeking to be appointed the new prime minister under Article 76 (5).

A version of this article appears in the print on June 27 2021, of The Himalayan Times.