Nepal: "Ruling-coalition meeting ends, no decision made"

KATHMANDU: A key meeting of the ruling coalition in Nepal ended on Sunday with "no conclusion", leaders said. The meeting where leaders of four political parties onboard Nepal's caretaker government came together on Sunday to reach an agreement on government formation ended without reaching a conclusion.

"The meeting of the ruling coalition ends. No decision has been made," leaders, who were present in the meeting said.

Notably, the discussion was going on at the Prime Minister's residence in Baluwatar to break the ice and seal an agreement on who will lead the government first.

Earlier, Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal walks out of the coalition meeting and went to Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) president and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Confirming the news of Dahal walking out, Maoist Center's press secretary said, "Agreement hasn't been reached."

Earlier, Maoist Centre's General Secretary Dev Gurung threatened Nepali Congress that they will "walk out" from the coalition if the latter remained adamant on their demand to hold both positions of the president and prime minister.

"If the Congress is adamant on their demand of holding the position of President and PM then there's no need for a coalition. We would simply walk out from it," Gurung told ANI over the phone on Sunday.

"This same statement was made in Saturday's meeting and is also conveyed today. We have come to the conclusion in the meeting to walk out of the coalition in case the same instance is repeated.

Still, the final decision would be made by the party chairman in the meeting," he added. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has been insisting that he should lead the government while Nepali Congress has been adamant about its position of leading the government as the largest party.

The political drama is running high in Kathmandu as the deadline given by President Bidya Devi Bhandari to the parties to recommend a name for the Prime Minister within 7 days ends Sunday at 5 PM (local time).

President Bhandari has asked the parties to agree on a consensus prime ministerial candidate as per Article 76(2) of the Constitution. After the Election Commission published the final result of the House of Representatives election, President Bhandari called the parties for government formation.