Nepali Congress, the country’s oldest party, has stepped up its campaign to remove the Baburam Bhattarai led Maoist-Madhesi coalition and replace it with a national unity government, reports Hindustan Times on Friday.
Since Thursday, the second largest party in the dissolved Constituent Assembly has begun seeking support from Madhesi coalition partners of the caretaker government to form the next government.
Though Bhattarai has expressed unwillingness to quit till the next elections in November, opposition parties are busy with efforts to dislodge him due to differences with his election announcement.
Nepal’s CA, which doubled as parliament, was dissolved last month for failing to draft a new constitution on time and Bhattarai had announced fresh polls to constitute a new parliament.
Unlike Maoists and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) which have headed government twice since 2008, NC is yet to don that role and many feel it deserves a chance.
On Thursday, NC president Sushil Koirala, the most likely candidate to replace Bhattarai, held discussions with Mahanta Thakur, chairman of Tarai Madhes Democratic Party and a member of the Maoist-Madhesi coalition.
Koirala’s close aide Laxman Dhakal stated that discussions revolved around ousting the PM and formation of a NC-led national unity government based on consensus among all parties.
But instead of agreeing to Koirala’s request, Thakur asked the former to clearly state NC’s stance on issues concerning welfare of the Terai region and its population.