Kathmandu, February 16

CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli held talks with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal for two hours, trying to convince him about the need to support a UML candidate for the president's post, election for which will be held next month.

The PM and his party leaders have been saying that the new president should be chosen through consensus so that s/he could rise above party lines and act in accordance with the spirit of the constitution.

Oli and his party leaders say that the PM and his party should support a UML presidential candidate as agreed by the seven-party alliance at Oli's residence on December 25, the day the new alliance was formed.

CPN-Maoist Centre leader Devendra Paudel told THT that the PM and Oli stuck to their stances in today's talks.

Both leaders are expected to hold talks tomorrow as well.

Paudel said that his party would hold talks with other political parties before taking a call on the presidential candidate.

Another leader of the CPN-MC said that there was a strong opinion in the party that if the UML got key posts, including that of the president, it would become too strong and prevent Dahal from functioning independently.

CPN-MC leaders often cite dissolution of the House of Representatives by Oli twice and its swift endorsement by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, who refused to sign citizenship bill into law.

A CPN-MC source said that an understanding could have been reached between the Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Dahal before the trust vote to elect a person who is not anti-communist or anti-NC as the new president.

"The PM must have got assurance from Deuba that his party would stand behind him if the current alliance breaks over the new president," the CPN-MC source added.

NC being the largest party was supposed to play the role of principal opposition, but voted in favour of Dahal during the floor test, enabling the PM to get 99 per cent votes in the House of Representatives. The day NC decided to support Dahal during the trust vote, Oli said the NC was angling for key posts.

Political analyst Chandra Kishore said that Dahal's bargaining power had increased after he became the PM and now, he wanted such a person to be the president who would not create obstacles for him.

"Dahal wants to prolong his rule and wants a favourable person to be the president.

Dahal has been negotiating with both the NC and the UML and whoever agrees to fulfil his goal, he is likely to go with that party, even at the expense of the current alliance," Chandra Kishore added.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 17, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.