Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song (left) holding a meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song is on the move while the political parties of Nepal are rendering efforts to turn the tables in their favor for presidency.
On February 17, Chinese Ambassador Chen Song, who reached Balkot and held talks with CPN (UML) Chairman KP Sharma Oli, met Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Nepal on Wednesday.
Ambassador Song reached Baluwatar to meet the Prime Minister at 9 am yesterday. According to sources, he had a discussion with Prachanda for about an hour.
This move of the Chinese ambassador, who has been trying to bring together the communist parties of Nepal for a long time, is viewed as meaningful.
Nominations for the presidential election are being registered on coming Saturday (February 25). The presidential election will be held on March 9.
Against this political scenario, UML Chairman Oli has been reiterating that the president should be elected from his party as per the agreement reached among the coalition partners.
On the other hand, 'Prachanda', who became the Prime Minister on December 25 with the support of 169 members of parliaments (MPs), has been calling for a national consensus on the President after the Nepali Congress gave him the vote of confidence on January 10.
The Maoist Center's office-bearers' meeting held on February 20 has already entrusted Prachanda with the task of seeking a national consensus on the president.
After the meeting, Maoist Center Vice Chairman and Spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara said, "The situation is no longer as UML said, the national political scenario has changed after January 10. Now the responsibility of taking a decision on the president has gone to Chairman Prachanda."
On the same day, the Maoist Center chose the middle path of maintaining the current alliance and agreeing on the President. Against this backdrop, since Wednesday morning, Chinese Ambassador Song has started a meaningful dialogue with the communist leaders.
Prime Minister Prachanda's secretariat has not revealed anything about an hour-long meeting with the Chinese ambassador yesterday morning.
But according to sources, the main agenda of the meeting was the presidential election. "Being a neighbor, it is natural to be interested in the political developments here", a member of the Prime Minister's Secretariat said, "other contemporary issues and relations between the two countries were also discussed during the meeting."
Immediately after the Chinese ambassador left, UML president Oli reached Baluwatar from Balkot. There was a long conversation between the two leaders from 10:40 am to 12:40 pm.
According to Oli's secretariat, the names of CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and UML Vice Chairman Subas Nembang have been presented for the presidency.
After Oli put forward the name of Nepal and returned to Balkot from Baluwatar, Chinese Ambassador Song reached Koteshwar.
Mohan Gautam, the personal secretary of Nepal, said Ambassador Song had reached Koteshwar to meet with Nepal. The meeting was focused on the presidential election. However, Nepal's private secretariat termed it as a courtesy meeting.
Following the meeting between Prachanda and Oli at Baluwatar, the Unified Socialist convened a meeting at Aloknagar yesterday afternoon.
Speaking after the meeting, Jhala Nath Khanal, a senior leader of the Unified Socialist, said that Chairman Nepal had not received any offer of the presidency from any party. But Oli had already put forward his name to Dahal in Baluwatar for the same.
According to the Secretariat of Chairman Nepal, the meeting with the Chinese ambassador took place after the Aloknagar meeting.
"Chinese Ambassador Song has had a courtesy call on former Prime Minister and Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal", the Secretariat said.
It is said that the two leaders discussed Nepal-China relations and various issues of bilateral interest.
According to a Unified Socialist leader, if there is a proposal for the presidency, one among Chairman Nepal or senior leader Jhala Nath Khanal will be put forward for it.
"If there is a chance to win or if there is a national consensus, one among Nepal or Khanal will become the presidential candidate", the leader told Nepalkhabar, "but the candidate has not been decided yet. It is too early to move on until we receive a proposal."
