A high-level meeting between Nepal’s two largest parties - Nepali Congress and CPN-UML - has led to fresh speculation that days of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’-led government are numbered.
Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba went to the residence of Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman and former prime minister K P Sharma Oli, who is part of the ruling coalition, on Saturday to discuss the latest political situation in the politically fragile country.
Although the details of the closed-door meeting have not been made public, there is speculation among some political circles that the two leaders might have discussed the formation of a new coalition government to oust Prachanda.
Oli, eying premiership once again, was unhappy with the recent budget allocations made by the government for fiscal year 2024-25, which he had publicly spoken about. However, sources close to Prime Minister Prachanda have dismissed “rumours about change in the power equation”, saying that the two top leaders of the ruling alliance CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Prachanda and CPN-UML chairman Oli are determined to continue the present coalition for the full term. Prachanda and Oli held two meetings on Sunday and Monday at the Prime Minister’s Office at Baluwatar during which “the two leaders discussed the latest political situation and ways to strengthen the present coalition government,” claimed Prime Minister’s Press advisor Govinda Acharya.
The two leaders discussed ways to make the performance of the government more efficient and take forward the ongoing coalition government in a consolidated manner, he said. “There is no truth in rumours about a change in the present coalition government and formation of a new alliance,” he added.
The two leaders agreed to include some other political parties like Nagarik Unmukti Party which voted in favour of the government during the vote of confidence in the government, he said.
Despite having taken a vote of confidence in Parliament thrice, Prime Minister Prachanda in his one-and-a-half-year term, the country is still plagued by political instability, pointed out Gunaraj Luitel, chief editor of Nagarik Daily. Political stability will be maintained only if the largest party in the Parliament Nepali Congress and the second largest party CPN-UML join hands and share power, argued Luitel. “It seems unnatural when the third largest party Maoist Centre is steering the government and the largest party NC is sitting in the opposition,” he added. The Nepali Congress has 89 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives whereas CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre have secured 78 and 32 seats respectively.
