Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of UCPN (Maoist), said his party is joining the government on Thursday as Prime Minister Khanal at the latest talks with him had agreed to allow the Maoists to head the home ministry. But a UML leader working closely with Khanal said the issue has not been resolved.[break]
Dahal said on Wednesday that the protracted row with the UML over power-sharing has come to an end as Khanal agreed Wednesday morning to give his party charge of the home ministry.
“There was a dispute with the UML, but it has now ended,” Dahal informed local journalists in Pokhara.
Dahal said the government would take full shape soon.
“Some power centers and some individuals within the UML may not have liked the idea of leaving the home ministry to the Maoists. But we have agreed to move ahead with our latest agreement,” Dahal said.
But UML leader Ghanshyam Bhusal, who is close to the prime minister, claimed that the issue is yet to be resolved and talks are under way.
"The Maoists are hardening their stance, saying they can´t join the government without the home portfolio. But we are still trying our best to convince them to let the prime minister´s party head security-related ministries," Bhusal told Republica.
The pending decision on the home portfolio has landed Khanal between the devil and the deep blue sea.
While Dahal in Pokhara claimed the Maoists are all set to head the home ministry, the Nepal-Oli camp in the UML warned Prime Minister Khanal in writing in Kathmandu of serious consequences if he gives the Maoists the home ministry.
Khanal and Oli along with UML Secretary Shankar Pokharel held a meeting at Singha Durbar and submitted a letter demanding that the prime minister work as per the party´s policy and decisions and not bow to the Maoist demand.
"We handed the letter to the prime minister, urging him to work as per the party´s decision," Pokharel told Republica. Former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Oli, Bidya Bhandari, Bishnu Paudel and Pokharel signed the letter.
At the meeting, Khanal told Oli that it is very difficult to persuade the Maoists to join the cabinet without giving them the home portfolio. "He said he is still trying his best to persuade them," Pokharel said.
Maoist chief Dahal said he doesn´t rule out the possibility of the agreement being broken, but added that the deal would materialize.
Interestingly, Dahal also claimed that it would be his turn to become prime minister after Khanal. The deal was vehemently opposed by other political parties as well as by Khanal´s rivals within the UML.
According to Dahal, there is an agreement that he would become prime minister after Khanal and before the constitution drafting, and that the Nepali Congress (NC) may lead the government after the constitution is promulgated.
He argued that some international power centers don´t want the current left coalition. “The power centers that want to influence domestic politics may not have liked it,” he said, adding, however, that he would not retreat from his move.
The Maoist chairman also informed that the party standing committee would decide who would lead the Maoist team in the government and who would become ministers in the coalition.
Khanal aides at Baluwatar say there is only a fifty-fifty chance the cabinet will be expanded on Thursday. "Since both the UML and Maoist parties have called their standing committee meeting for Thursday, the possibility of inducting new ministers depends on the decisions they take at the meetings," said a Khanal aide.
At a meeting with President Dr Ram Baran Yadav earlier, the prime minister had said he was trying to swear in the new ministers on Wednesday itself.
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