The leaders at the CC meeting on Tuesday said UML lawmakers should vote in parliament so as to give the country, which has remained without a government for over five months now, a new prime minister.[break]
“The leaders expressed mixed opinions. But a majority of those who spoke at today´s meeting said that the party needs to find a solution by even opting for the option of forming a majority government,” UML Spokesman Pradip Gyawali told Republica. Around 35 CC members spoke at the meeting.
UML lawmakers so far have abstained from voting any candidate arguing that formation of a majority government can´t accomplish the tasks of writing the constitution and concluding the peace process.
While party Chairman Jhalanath Khanal has been insisting on the formation of a national consensus government, leaders close to Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and KP Sharma Oli are for forming a majority government and giving continuity to the present ruling coalition. A CC member said a large number of UML leaders seemed to have realized that the policy of consensus is no longer going to work with regard to forming a new government.
But leaders close to Khanal claimed that a good number of leaders who spoke at the meeting were for putting more efforts to implement the party´s policy of forming consensus government.
“A fair number of leaders were of the view that the party´s policy to form a consensus government is right but the problem lies in its implementation. Therefore we have to press NC candidate Ram Chandra Paudel to clear the field and start new process for consensus,” Yogesh Bhattarai, who is close to Khanal, said. He said the leaders were of the view that since Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal withdrew his candidacy upon UML leaders´ request, Paudel should as well follow suit.
There were a large number of leaders who proposed at the meeting that UML has to first stand against the special session, which is summoned by the president following Maoist petition, and make it a failure. “Then the party has to press Paudel to withdraw his candidacy. If he doesn´t become ready for that, UML should vote against him and end the ongoing voting process by defeating the lone candidate by majority so that parliament can go for a new process,” the leaders said. “Once the new process starts, the UML has to vote in favor of a candidate as forming the new government has become an urgent need for the country.”
Some leaders also suggested the party leadership to go for rotational prime ministerial system.
PM unhappy with Prez
While briefing the CC meeting about the initiatives taken by the government in connection with summoning parliament session, Prime Minister Nepal expressed his displeasure over the role of President Dr Ram Baran Yadav.
According to leaders, the prime minister was unhappy with the head of state for summoning the House session without informing him. "The president discussed the matter with me. But he didn´t inform me when he finally decided to summon the special session,” leaders quoted the prime minister as saying.
The prime minister was of the view that the president called the session too hastily even as the government was preparing to recommend the president to summon regular session.
Recall Speaker Nembang
Some of the CC members fiercely criticized Speaker Subas Nembang for his role in parliament. They said Nembang, who represents the UML party, has utterly failed to play fair and effective role in the House. “He didn´t take action against those involved in manhandling finance minister while he was preparing to table budget in parliament. He committed similar mistakes in other cases as well,” Rameshwar Phuyal said at the meeting, "Why not to recall him as he has totally failed to play effective role in parliament."
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