Maoists and UML cosy up on power-sharing; president for UML and PM for Maoists
Senior leaders of Maoists and the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) held meeting, Friday morning, where they reached an initial understanding to back each other's candidate for the positions of executive prime minister and president, respectively.
Although none of the senior leaders of the two parties explicitly spelled out their understanding, UML general secretary Jhal Nath Khanal did indicate where the things are moving. "We have said why not a UML candidate for the position of president? And the Maoists have responded positively," he told reporters after emerging out from the meeting held in Vaishali hotel in Thamel.
Khanal, however, refused to divulge the names of candidates being proposed for those positions. "We are only talking about policies not individuals at this point," he said.
Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' was still less forthcoming about the understanding. "We are trying to formulate a common programme that will be owned up by all the twenty-five parties," he said. "On power-sharing also, we are continuously talking but no conclusion has been reached yet," he said.
The UML-Maoist meeting is also said to have decided to support candidate of Nepali Congress (NC) for the position of chairman of Constituent Assembly (CA).
The Maoists, NC and UML are the first, second and third largest parties, respectively, based on the seats they won in the CA election.
The NC had been staking its claim on the position of president. The latest UML-Maoist warmth is certain to raise its hackles. In fact, on Thursday, Prime Minister and president of NC Girija Prasad Koirala had said that he was willing to resign and put his party in opposition if his party is denied its rightful share.
Meanwhile, after the inconclusive meeting of the three-party taskforce in the afternoon, the seven party leaders have resumed their parleys, Friday evening, at Baluwatar in order to break the political deadlock. The latest Maoist-UML alliance is expected to affect the parleys. nepalnews.com sd Jun 20 08
