Deuba, Dahal talk amid seat lobbying

Kathmandu, July 21: Nepal’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Wednesday discussed with former premier Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ the common minimum programme for the remaining one-and-ahalf-year term of the government even as coalition partners started hectic lobbying for Cabinet berths in lieu of the support they had extended during Sunday’s trust vote in Parliament.

CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Prachanda met Prime Minister Deuba, who is set to induct more ministers from the Nepali Congress and the CPNMaoist Centre when he expands the Cabinet in the coming days, The Himalayan Times reported.

Dahal’s personal aide Bishnu Sapkota said that the two veteran leaders agreed to formulate a common programme on behalf of the five-party alliance, the report said, adding that coalition partner Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal will also join the government.

Dahal and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal

Co-chair Upendra Yadav also met CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. Leaders of the Nepal faction of the UML, the CPNMC and the JSP-N had voted in favour of Deuba.

The Kathmandu Post reported that Deuba wants representation of all parties that stood by 75-year-old Deuba, President of Nepali Congress.

Discussions are going on with all the parties who supported us, Purna Bahadur Khadka, a Congress general secretary said.

Since all political parties have their own challenges, Deuba’s Nepali Congress is no exception.

The rival faction of the party, led by Ram Chandra Poudel, has demanded at least one deputy prime minister post with the other General Secretary Shashanka Koirala, former vice-president Prakash Man Singh and senior leader Sujata Koirala vying for the post, the report said.

But Deuba has made it clear that it is not possible and the Poudel faction will get just two portfolios in the Cabinet. —