Biratnagar, July 29:

Nepali Congress (NC) central member Dr Shekhar Koirala today said the party would not join a Maoist-led government, as the party’s central working committee had decided to prop the Maoist-led government from outside.

Dr Koirala said it while inaugurating the Morang chapter of Nepal Press Union and the Nona Koirala Memorial Foundation in Biratnagar.

“NC will help the Maoists in the same way it had helped the government led by CPN-UML in 1994,” he said, adding that the party would play a constructive role in the constitution-making process.

“Even if the NC stays out of the government, the CPN-Maoist should form the government on consensus basis,” he said.

The desire for a new democratic constitution would be realised only if the new government was formed on the basis of a national consensus, he added.

Claiming that the CPN-Maoist had been isolated because of its own arrogance, Koirala said, the Maoist should go ahead by winning the trust of all parties, as two-third majority was required for the drafting of the constitution.

Saying that participation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was not compulsory in the SAARC summit, he said, “But if PM Koirala did not attend the summit, it would postpone.”

“In my opinion the SAARC summit should be postponed if PM Koirala cannot attend it,” he said.

When asked whether the President could attend the summit, he said, “The role of the President should be ceremonial. If the President started taking part in such summits, the President would remain no more ceremonial, but he would be an executive President.”