Prime Minister Jhalnath Khanal was elected prime minister by parliament last week after months of failed attempts to choose a leader after the previous government resigned. He won the vote with the support of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
No party has a majority in parliament, and Khanal needs the Maoists’ support to continue in power.
But a senior leader of the Maoists, Narayankaji Shrestha, said Thursday that negotiations with Khanal had broken down. He said the main issue was that the Maoists’ had not been given control of the home ministry as promised.
Meanwhile, Khanal named his longtime party colleague Bharat Mohan Adhikari as deputy prime minister and Bishnu Poudel and Gangalal Tuladhar as ministers. All three are from Khanal’s Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist).
Tuladhar and Poudel had not yet been assigned ministries.
Maoist leader Shrestha said they had decided not to be part of the planned coalition government that would include members from Khanal’s party, Maoists and some smaller parties. Instead, the Maoists said they would continue to support Khanal in parliament for now, and assess the situation in a few days.
Khanal’s aide Yogesh Bhattarai said they planned to continue negotiations with the Maoists and hoped that an agreement could be reached to bring them into the new government.
