With hardly three days to go for filing nomination for the post of president, major parties Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Center) have not struck a deal on the president.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is reiterating that a national consensus including the NC should be forged for the president at a time when UML is sticking to its guns that the president should be elected from its own party as per the agreement reached among the coalition parties on December 25 last year.
Against this backdrop, Haribol Gajurel, the chief political advisor to the prime minister, said the Maoist Center will not budge an inch from the national consensus.
Talking to Nepalkhbar, Gajurel said the Maoist Center is waiting for UML’s decision on the presidential election.
“We are awaiting response from the UML,” he said, “The national consensus is necessary on the president. Bringing NC into agreement is our bottom-line. The current alliance will not break if we bring NC into agreement.”
He said that the Maoist Center is still in the seven-party alliance but the national consensus on the president is the bottom-line of the party.
UML Chairman Oli left Baluwatar after holding a meeting for around two hours with Prime Minister Dahal at Baluwatar this morning.
The Maoist Center has entrusted Dahal to finalize the presidential candidature.
