Parties in the opposition alliance have started an internal discussion within the respective parties about joining the government after the Supreme Court (SC)’s mandamus to make Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba prime minister (PM) by five Tuesday afternoon.
The President’s Office has said the SC verdict will be implemented but whether he will be sworn in today itself has yet to be decided.
The opposition alliance met at Koteshwore on the initiation of CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal after the SC verdict on Monday. Nepal told the meeting that the alliance was formed for a specific purpose and he will not continue in the alliance after the purpose has been achieved.
The meeting then decided to form a small Cabinet immediately and Deuba urged the parties to provide name of the ministers.
Rashtriya Janamorcha, that has one seat in the House of Representatives (HoR), has decided to not join the government for now, according to Vice-Chair and lawmaker Durga Paudel. “We will join only if we see the need to join the government. We will make a decision on that within a few days and make our position clear. We will not join the government in my understanding,” Paudel said.
Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) leaders also say the party’s meeting Tuesday afternoon will decide whether to join the government.
Only NC and CPN (Maoist Center) may join the government if JSP and Janamorcha decide to not join it. NC is preparing to keep the finance ministry and give home ministry to Maoist Center which is holding standing committee meetings to decide about the names of ministers.
NC has also called a meeting of office-bearers in the afternoon to discuss the names of ministers and the upcoming general convention.
CPN-UML is also holding a standing committee meeting at the PM’s residence in the afternoon. The Khanal-Nepal faction has yet to decide whether to attend the meeting or not.