Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) reached a power-sharing deal in the wee hours of Tuesday.
With the agreement, the current government led by Maoist Chairman Pushpakamal Dahal 'Prachanda' is on the verge of dissolution after the two major parties in the parliament reached the deal with the main agenda of revising the constitution.
According to sources, after several rounds of discussions over the last month, UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at 12:30 am (Tuesday). They have agreed to form a 'government of national consensus'.
According to the deal sealed between the two parties, UML Chairman Oli will lead the government in the first phase, while NC President Deuba will lead the government in the second phase.
An agreement has been reached between them to form a high-level constitution recommendation commission to amend the constitution on matters such as the electoral system. According to the sources, NC and UML want to amend the constitution and remove the proportional election system from the constitution.
It has been agreed between the two parties to amend the constitution based on the recommendation of the high-level commission and to ensure political stability by reforming the electoral system.
The two parties have agreed that UML, which will lead initially, will take nine ministries including the Finance Ministry and NC will take 10 ministries including the Home Ministry. Along with this, the two parties in the provincial government have also agreed to share three chief ministers each.
Sources claim that they are preparing to form a government by gathering the two-thirds majority of lawmakers required for the amendment of the constitution if a 'government of national consensus' is not possible.
UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel and NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak, along with the second-rung leaders of the two parties, signed the MoU on Monday midnight.
