Nepal's newly-appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' would seek a vote of confidence in the parliament on Tuesday, amid uncertainty over the support from his allies.
The 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre leader was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the third time on December 26 after he dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader K P Sharma Oli.
Nepal's first Parliament session after the appointment of Prime Minister Prachanda began here on Monday.
The Nepali Congress - the largest political party in parliament - is likely to vote in support of Prime Minister Prachanda while staying on the opposition bench, My Republica newspaper reported.
Prime Minister Prachanda on Monday met Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba and sought his support in parliament, the paper said.
"Deuba has said that our party will take a decision whether to support the new government after the parliamentary party meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning,” a leader close to Deuba was quoted as saying by the paper.
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NC Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka and Krishna Prasad Situala were present when Prime Minister Prachanda held a meeting with Deuba.
{{/usCountry}}NC Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka and Krishna Prasad Situala were present when Prime Minister Prachanda held a meeting with Deuba.
{{/usCountry}}Party insiders said although a formal decision to this effect will be made through the NC’s Parliamentary Party meeting scheduled for Tuesday, the party is likely to support Prachanda and stay on the opposition bench.
The NC and CPN (Maoist Center) had forged an electoral alliance for the parliamentary election held on November 20.
But after the NC reportedly declined the post of the prime minister to Prachanda as agreed before, the Maoist Center in a rather surprising move forged an alliance with the CPN-UML to form a new government.
In the 275-member House of Representatives, the NC has 89 lawmakers, while the UML has 79 lawmakers. Similarly, CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rashtriya Swatantra Party have 32, 10 and 20 members, respectively. Janamat Party has 6 members, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party 4 and Nagarik Unmukti Party 3 members in the parliament.