Key Takeaways:

• NCP formed five-member task force led by Shalikram Jamkattel
• Members: Krishna Khanal, Ratna Prasad Dhakal, Saral Sahayatri, Kumari Moktan
• Task force to hold talks with UML, RPP, NWPP, Hamro Nepali Party
• UML-NCP alliance has 51 seats, short of the 53 needed for majority

HETAUDA, JULY 28 The Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has formed a five-member task force to facilitate the formation of a new government in Bagmati Province under the leadership of the CPN-UML. A meeting of the NCP's Bagmati Provincial Assembly Parliamentary Party held in Hetauda on Tuesday decided to initiate talks and coordination with the UML and other political parties to create the necessary environment for forming the new government. NCP Chief Whip Ratna Prasad Dhakal said the meeting also decided to move ahead with government formation in line with an agreement reached between the NCP and UML on April 21. Former chief minister and NCP Parliamentary Party leader Shalikram Jamkattel will coordinate the task force. Krishna Khanal, Ratna Prasad Dhakal, Saral Sahayatri and Kumari Moktan have been named as members. The task force has been mandated to hold discussions and coordinate with the UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) and Hamro Nepali Party to secure the support required for government formation. Dhakal said preliminary discussions with the RPP's parliamentary party leader and provincial assembly members had been positive, with the party appearing open to cooperation. However, the RPP has said it will make further commitments only after receiving an official decision from its party. The NCP said the task force was formed after the power-sharing agreement between the NCP and UML had already been signed at the central level, with the committee now tasked with advancing formal negotiations with other parties at the provincial level. The move comes as the UML and NCP, which have 25 and 26 provincial assembly seats respectively, remain short of the 53 votes required for a majority in the 104-member Bagmati Provincial Assembly. Support from other parties is therefore expected to be crucial to the formation of the new government.