KATHMANDU, APRIL 10
A day after the Nepali Congress held talks with the CPN-Maoist Centre and the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal seeking their help in forming the next government, CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal hoped that a new government would be formed within a few days.
Addressing his party's gathering of the Karnali Chapter Contact Forum here today, Dahal said talks held between his party, the NC and the JSP-N yesterday were positive and the NC's statement that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was trying to capture state power and sideline the other political parties was significant.
"Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal has also said that it will take a decision within a day or two on the NC's proposal for forming the next government. I hope that a new government will be formed within a few days," he said.
Dahal also said that his party would forge electoral alliance with other political parties if polls were held.
"We already have an alliance with the Madhav Kumar Nepal-Jhalanath Khanal faction of the CPN-UML. Apart from that, we are also on the same wavelength with JSP-N leaders, so we can have an alliance with them also and if we reach an agreement with the NC on joining hands in the government and forge an electoral alliance, it will be a major development. We can also forge alliance with Mohan Bikram Singh and Mohan Baidhya's parties," he added.
He said his party had called for an alliance in election of the executive body of Federation of Nepali Journalists and the alliance won. He said journalists' groups close to PM Oli ranked in the fourth position in the election and if an alliance is forged in the next general elections, Oli's party would be reduced to fourth position leading to dissolution of the party.
Although Dahal expressed hope that a new government would be formed within a few days, the JSP-N which holds the key for forming the next government, is undecided about the power equation.
JSP-N leader Rajendra Mahato told THT that his party's talks with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's government were positive and the party wanted to see the end result before discussing the power equation. "If we discuss formation of the next government now, that could harm the process that the incumbent government had initiated to address our demands. We should wait to see the results of the ongoing talks between the JSP-N and the UML government," Mahato said.
He said the Oli-led government did not address his party's demands in the past, but since Oli needed his party's support to run the government, his party was hopeful that its demands would be addressed.
Asked to comment on the NC and CPN-MC leaders' remarks that the demands the JSP-N was raising could be addressed by the next government that could be formed by the NC, CPN-MC and the JSP-N, Mahato said the NC and the CPN-MC had formed the government in the past, but they too did not try to address the demands. "It is the responsibility of our party to secure the release of our leaders and cadres who have been held on false charges," Mahato added.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 11, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
