KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 9

Political parties have intensified their inter- and intra-party consultations over the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal compact in the past few days, but a common stand on it continues to be ever elusive for the ruling alliance.

Nepali Congress led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba wants to secure parliamentary ratification of the deal as soon as possible. However, the two coalition partners - CPN-MC and CPN (Unified Socialist) - favour ratification of the deal only after amendment or the postponement of the ratification process till the parliamentary elections.

The government led by CPN-UML had registered the MCC deal in the Parliament.

However, the deal could not move ahead due to varied opinion regarding the issue within the erstwhile government led by Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

CPN-MC chair Dahal met Prime Minister Deuba today and discussed the MCC deal.

Neither Dahal nor Deuba's secretariats gave details of what transpired in the talks, but CPN-MC sources said incongruency between PM Deuba and Dahal over the MCC deal persisted. Earlier, Dahal had discussed the MCC deal with CPN (Unified Socialist) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal today.

Yesterday, American Ambassador Randy Berry met CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli and urged him to help secure the ratification of the MCC deal in the Parliament, according to a member of Oli's private secretariat. NC leader Shekhar Koirala also met Oli and discussed the MCC deal with him.

Asked if the ruling coalition could fall apart due to incongruency within the ruling alliance over the MCC deal, CPN- MC leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said continuity of the current alliance would depend on PM Deuba and his party's decision.

'We have been recommending to either pass the MCC deal after amending it or postpone the deal until the elections. And we continue to stick to our position,' Shrestha said, adding that they had also asked other coalition partners to try to convince the American side about the need to delay ratification of the deal until the elections.

Another CPN-MC leader Dev Prasad Gurung said there was no chance that his party would favour ratification of the MCC deal without amendment as the recently held General Convention of the party had decided that the MCC deal could not be endorsed without amendments.

Gurung said incongruency between his party and PM Deuba's NC continued to persist over the deal. 'Without amendment to the MCC deal, we do not even favour tabling it,' Gurung added.

CPN (Unified Socialist) Spokesperson Jagannath Khatiwada said party chair Madhav Kumar Nepal discussed the MCC deal with Dahal today. He said his party was of the view that the MCC deal was against national interest and hence it should not be ratified in its current form.

On February 3, Acting Chief Executive Officer of MCC Mahmoud Bah wrote a letter to PM Deuba and his coalition partner CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, warning that Nepal could lose the MCC grant of $500 million if it failed to endorse the deal by February 28.

The American side has said that the deal cannot be amended at this stage.

A meeting of the House of Representatives scheduled for today was postponed till February 14. Although the Parliament Secretariat said the meeting was postponed due to extraordinary circumstances, a source at the Parliament Secretariat said it was postponed due to incongruency within the ruling alliance over the MCC deal. Earlier, incongruency within the ruling coalition had led to the postponement of the HoR meeting.

The government and the NC want Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota to list the MCC deal in the House business, but Sapkota is not ready to oblige.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 10, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.