Prachanda receives setback as CPN-UML rejects isolating Nepali Congress
Ahead of the crucial Friday vote, Maoist chief Prachanda's hopes to become the next prime minister received a fresh setback today with CPN-UML refusing to back his government if it did not include the Nepali Congress of his arch-rival G P Koirala.
"The next government should be a government of national consensus with the inclusion of Nepali Congress," former general secretary of CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal said after a crucial standing committee meeting of the party.
The Maoists, which have 220 seats in the 601-member house, are hoping to form a majority government with support of the CPN-UML that has 103 lawmakers during the August 15 vote in the Constituent Assembly after the latest round of talks on forging "consensus" among mainstream parties failed with Nepali Congress (NC) demanding the defence portfolio.
Outrightly rejecting the NC's condition, Prachanda or Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he would rather sit in the opposition.
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