GPK urges Prachanda for new govt

KATHMANDU: Leaders of various political parties today busied themselves with bilateral political consultations, shortly after the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (MJF), the fourth largest party in the Constituent Assembly, concluded its central working committee meeting.

The MJF decided that they would either lead the next coalition under their leadership or back the parties that support the Madhes cause.

Amidst political uncertainty, caretaker Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal met with former PM and Nepali Congress boss Girija Prasad Koirala at the latter's residence, Maharajgunj.

An NC source said that Prachanda proposed that his party would back any leader, either from the UML or from the NC, instead of Madhav Kumar Nepal as the next PM.

But the NC boss declined to accept Prachanda's alternative to Nepal. Koirala, accompanied by former Home Minister K P Sitaula, is learnt to have asked the caretaker PM not to take the parliament into hostage and to allow it to form the next government.

Koirala is believed to have expressed his displeasure over Prachanda's hasty decision to resign as the PM without consulting with him and the UML leadership. "The political uncertainty arose due to your resignation. It appears that you are not serious about the peace process and writing the constitution on time," the NC source quoted Koirala as telling Prachanda.

After meeting with Koirala, Prachanda invited MJF leaders duo Upendra Yadav and J P Gupta in Baluwatar. It is believed that the caretaker PM proposed Yadav to be ready for the next PM. Sources within the NC and the UML claimed that they had already mustered enough support of parties in favour of Nepal for leading the next coalition government.