Kathmandu, Jan. 15: Although the Maoists in Nepal have entered Parliament in an ostensibly smooth fashion today, they are engaged in hard bargaining behind the scenes.

While they agreed to be sworn in as MPs in the Interim Nepalese Parliament by the oldest member of the House, Balbahadur Rai (who joked with people outside Parliament House saying: “I am the King in the play being put up today”), they are bargaining for either the post of deputy Prime Minister or Speaker of the Interim Parliament.

The Maoists are understood to have told G.P. Koirala, the Prime Minister of the interim government, that either they must have the post of the sole deputy Prime Minister — currently there are two — or of the Speaker. Two meetings were held today between the Maoist leadership and Prime Minister Koirala on the issue. In the first meeting held this morning at the Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar attended by Prachanda, CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress-Democratic president Sher Bahadur Deuba, no decision could be reached. Another meeting was held at 3 pm with no result once again.

Later in the evening, the old House of Representatives had to be adjourned around 7 pm today — although the Maoist MPs were waiting in the Parliament complex — because there was again no understanding on the issue.

According to reliable sources, Prime Minister Koirala told the Maoists duo of Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai that he had no objection to their demand for the post of sole deputy Prime Minister. However, he said that he would them expect either of them to accept the position because only if Prachanda or Bhattarai took up the position would the government get greater legitimacy. “Make things easier for us also and join the government,” he is understood to have told them.