UML politburo member Raghuji Panta Tuesday said his party would name K.P Oli as its prime ministerial candidate if the Nepali Congress failed to come up with a name at the earliest.

Speaking at the Reporters Club, Pant, who is known as a Oli loyalist, said the UML would formally declare Oli as the PM candidate after the central committee meeting if the NC did not pick the candidate.

Saying that Baburam Bhattarai government has already stayed in place for quite a long time since the President's direction that relegated it to caretaker status, Pant argued that the President should give it two or three days' deadline to step down and ask the parties to form a consensus government.

Speaking at the same programme, NC leader Arjun Narsingh K.C said his party's central working committee meeting would be held within the next ten days to name the prime ministerial for the consensus government. He said either Ram Chandra Poudel or Sher Bahadur Deuba are the obvious candidates.

"A third person will be chosen if Poudel and Deuba do not show interest," he said. nepalnews.com