E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, APR 04 - Following some CPN-UML leaders' demand for the party's initiative to "pave way" for a national consensus government, some of the Nepali Congress (NC) lawmakers have also started pressing their leadership to think of changing the guard at Singhdurbar and taking the lead. However, the voice has sunk into oblivion in front of the NC leadership that stands divided after the demise of party President Girija Prasad Koirala.

During Sunday's meeting of the Parliamentary Party (PP), some "symbolic voices" demanded that it was time the party leaders took initiative to form a new government under NC leadership.

Though very few in number, the new voices for change from the NC hold significance as the party is the largest coalition partner backing up the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government. For long, the NC leaders have been brushing aside any possibility of pulling out the party's support to the coalition government. NC sources say this is because the leaders have no confidence that they would be able to decide who would lead the party in that case.

"Lawmakers have raised strong voices against the unnecessary devotion that the NC leaders have shown to the current UML-led government," said a NC lawmaker present at the meeting. "What has irked them is the silence on the part of NC despite the 'UMLisation' of the coalition government."

During Sunday's discussion, NC lawmakers including Kehshav Kumar Budhathoki and Kumar Rai demanded that the NC should immediately withdraw its support to the current government. "A number of lawmakers also vented ire against the cabinet ministers from NC stating that they have failed to even make their presence felt in the government," said the source.

"Since the current government has failed to perform, I demanded that the party should pull out and form a new national consensus government under its own leadership," said NC lawmaker Kumar Rai. "I am, however, also surprised that despite the criticism they make against the UML, none of the NC leaders have dared to speak for a change in the government."

NC PP Spokesperson Nabindra Raj Joshi said Sunday's meeting directed its lawmakers not to move out from the valley as their presence could be felt at any time in the coming few weeks in course of the constitution-making process.

Posted on: 2010-04-04 09:26

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