Kathmandu, Mar 2 (PTI) Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Thursday urged all political parties to back Ram Chandra Paudel for the President’s post, asserting that the senior Nepali Congress candidate will play the role of guardian in protecting democracy and the Constitution.
Addressing an orientation programme here, Prachanda said protection of the Constitution and democracy was more important to him than the post of prime minister.
“Nepal’s politics is marred by ups and downs. We are still amidst the political crisis and challenges,” he said.
The election to the post of President is taking place on March 9 and Poudyal, supported by the eight-party alliance, is competing against CPN-UML candidate Subhash Nemwang.
Noting that Poudel, the common candidate of eight political parties, has the support of 10 parties, the prime minister said he is sure to win the Presidential election.
“We have made leader Poudel the candidate for the presidential election. We believe that he will play the role of guardian in protecting the Constitution and democracy,” Prachanda said at the event.
The programme was attended by senior leaders of the eight-party alliance, including Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-Unified Socialist chairperson Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Nepal’s second largest party in Parliament – CPN-UML – on Monday withdrew its support to the Prachanda-led government following a rift over backing the main opposition party’s candidate for the presidential poll, plunging the Himalayan nation into another spell of political instability.
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has quit the government. The Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has also withdrawn its ministers from the government. However, it would keep supporting the government from the outside.
With three major parties pulling out of the government, the seven-party ruling coalition has disintegrated.
Prachanda has now joined hands with the Nepali Congress and other parties and wants a new power-sharing deal at the earliest.
“Our efforts will be for strengthening the alliance among eight political parties,” Prachanda said on Thursday.
Prachanda said, during a meeting at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar, he told Oli that the country was in a difficult situation and they should “propose a Nepali Congress candidate for the presidential post and forge a national consensus.” “But Oli did not accept that. So, we are now in the present situation with a new alliance to reach a consensus,” he said.
Nepali Congress (NC) President Deuba on the occasion said that the pre-election coalition could be revived due to the courage displayed by Prime Minister Prachanda and CPN and the generosity shown by CPN (Unified Socialist) Chief, Nepal.
He lauded Prachanda for showing courage to break the ruling coalition formed on Christmas Day just two months ago.
He also praised Nepal for agreeing to revive the pre-election coalition despite CPN-UML Chairman Oli offering him the post of president in a last-ditch attempt to save the old seven-party coalition.
Prachanda quit the coalition with the NC and Unified Socialist on December 25, 2022 to become the prime minister with the support of CPN-UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party, RPP, Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party after Deuba refused to make him the prime minister.
The old coalition was revived last week. The eight parties have fielded Paudel as the common candidate for the presidential election.
Deuba called Paudel a long-time friend and stated that he was the right person to become the next president.
The Election Commission has scheduled the presidential election on March 9 while the election of the Vice President will be held on March 17.
Prachanda will seek a vote of confidence and reshuffle his Cabinet only after the polls, a media report on Wednesday quoted officials as saying.
He is preparing to reshuffle his Cabinet to fill as many as 16 ministries, which fell vacant after three political parties pulled out of his government, as part of his efforts to keep the newly formed fragile coalition together.
As per the constitutional provision, the prime minister needs to seek a vote of confidence within 30 days if a party withdraws its support to the government.
Prachanda needs 138 votes in Parliament to continue as the prime minister. With the three major parties, NC (89), CPN-Maoist Centre (32) and RSP (20), Prachanda has the support of at least 141 lawmakers. PTI SBP MRJ AKJ MRJ
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