Unhappy

Kathmandu, July 22: The Maoists, who suffered a severe setback yesterday after their candidate was defeated in the presidential polls, today announced their decision to stay out of the government.

Addressing a news conference after the meeting of the party’s central secretariat here, Maoist chief Prachanda said the poll results effectively ended their bid to form the next government. “Since we have lost our moral right to form the government, we will prefer to sit in the Opposition,” he said.

The Maoists are the biggest group in the Assembly and Prachanda had been expected to be the next Prime Minister.

Prachanda described the new Nepali Congress-led alliance as unholy and unnatural and predicted that the coalition would fall apart. “The alliance has been formed at the instance of certain foreign powers who do not want to see us head the next government,” he said, refusing to name the powers.

The Maoist decision clears the field for the possible formation of a government led by the Nepali Congress. However, reports hint at the possibility of both the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) staking their claims to lead the next government.

The MJF, which has 52 members in the Constituent Assembly, has already announced that it should be allowed to lead the government.

MJF’s parliamentary party chief Bijay Kumar Gachchedar told reporters that both the Congress and the UML had agreed to support his party’s candidate for the Prime Minister’s post.

The vote for the presidency was the first major decision by the Assembly since lawmakers decided to abolish the 239-year-old monarchy and declare a republic, part of a peace process that ended a decade-long civil war.