KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 17

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today held discussion with ruling alliance leaders of the CPN-MC, CPN (Unified Socialist), and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal on the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Nepal Compact signed with the United States, but differences among them on the compact prevailed.

The ruling alliance leaders decided to meet again at 10:00am tomorrow to iron out their differences.

CPN-MC leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha told THT that the PM said he was determined to put the MCC compact to vote by February 28, but the CPN- MC continued to reiterate its position that the bill on compact should not be tabled in the Parliament unless consensus was forged at least among coalition partners.

JSP-N leader Baburam Bhattarai said the bill should be tabled in the House of Representatives tomorrow. According to Shrestha, JSP-N leaders Bhattarai and Rajendra Shrestha spoke in two voices in the meeting with Bhattarai supporting the tabling of the bill tomorrow and Rajendra Shrestha favouring consensus among coalition partners. According to Shrestha, CPN-MC leaders told the meeting that had all the ruling coalition partners collectively pleaded for revision in the MCC deal, the US could have agreed to revise it.

Another point that the CPN- MC raised in the meeting was that the US wanted the MCC compact ratified by the Parliament because there was a provision in the compact that the compact would prevail over domestic laws. According to the CPN-MC, that provision itself could be removed from the compact.

The third point that the CPN-MC raised was that such a grant project was never ratified by the Parliament before and parties had not reached consensus on how to proceed legally on it, according to Shrestha.

The CPN-MC pointed out that in the face of CPN-UML's obstruction in the House, the government had not sought the passage of any bill other than budget. If the bill on compact is tabled in the Parliament, the government should be ready to move all other bills and agenda in the House as if there is no obstruction in the House, said CPN-MC.

The CPN-MC said the compact had elicited a strong reaction across the country and should be tabled only when the deadlock in the House ended. CPN-MC said if the MCC compact was tabled without 'amending controversial provisions', it would vote against it.

According to Shrestha, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal asked the PM not to table the bill in the Parliament at least till February 19 because his party had called a meeting on that day to take a stand on the MCC deal.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, who is also a government spokesperson, said coalition partners had their own views about the MCC compact and they would hold another meeting at 10:00am tomorrow.

The US, which has set a deadline of February 28 to get the compact ratified by the Parliament, has ruled out any amendment to the deal.

Earlier, Deuba said the party had unanimously passed a resolution seeking to secure parliamentary ratification of the MCC compact, as it was in the interest of the country.

'The MCC deal may or may not be passed by the Parliament, but it is in the country's interest,' he added.

Before the ruling alliance's meeting, CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal had discussed the compact with CPN (Unified Socialist) Madhav Kumar Nepal and JSP-N leader Rajendra Shrestha. Dahal had told mediapersons that attempt would be to made save the coalition.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 18, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.