KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 14

Dev Prasad Gurung, a leader of the CPN-Maoist Centre, a ruling coalition partner, who has been saying that efforts should be made to form a left alliance, today met KP Sharma Oli, chairman of the main opposition party.

Asked if he discussed forming a new coalition with the CPN-UML in order to form a new government, Gurung said he went to con-gratulate him and not discuss the government formation as his party remained a partner in the current five-party alliance-led by the Nepali Congress.

Gurung, who lost elections to UML leader Prithvi Subba Gurung in Lamjung, said immediately after election results that CPN-MC and UML should come close to form left alliance.

Gurung's meeting with Oli assumes significance as CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal told an audience in Kaski district, where he had spent his childhood, that if their blessings worked, he would soon be in a position to lead the government.

CPN-MC leaders are saying that the ruling alliance should give the CPN- MC a chance to lead the government first.

Gurung said coalition partners had not yet discussed government formation or who should get which post. He said his party would explore other options only if the option of forming the government with the NC did not work.

"It is highly unlikely that ruling coalition partners would not reach an agreement on the formation of the next government," he added.

Coalition partners will divide the posts of the president, prime minister, speaker, and deputy speaker, among others. The president's tenure ends on 12 March 2023.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 15, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.