Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachand”, Chairman of CPN Maoist Center (CPN-MC) in Nepal (Prachand) has finally taken over as the new Prime Minister by removing the current PM Sher Bahadur Deuba. After a quick turn of events on Sunday, President Vidya Devi Bhandari appointed “Prachanda” as the country’s new prime minister. While earlier, the leader of Nepali Congress (Nepali Congress) and current PM Sher Bahadur Deuba was likely to become the PM again. But amid political reshuffles of the day, Prachanda claimed to form a new government with the support of the opposition CPN-UML and other smaller parties. After this he was appointed as PM by the President.
Prachand has been appointed as the Prime Minister of Nepal for the third time. Born on December 11, 1954 at Dhikurpokhari in Kaski district near Pokhara, Prachanda lived underground for about 13 years. He joined mainstream politics when the CPN-Maoist abandoned the path of decades of armed insurgency and embraced the path of peaceful politics. He led a decade-long armed conflict from 1996 to 2006, which finally ended with the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement in November 2006. Earlier, a meeting was held at Balakot, Oli’s residence, in which leaders of Prachanda and other smaller parties agreed to form the government under Prachanda’s leadership, apart from former Prime Minister Oli. According to sources, a resolution was registered in the President’s Office at ‘Sheetal Niwas’ to appoint 68-year-old ‘Prachand’ as the new Prime Minister. He said that since only one proposal for the post of Prime Minister was filed in the President’s Office, the President appointed Prachanda as the new Prime Minister.
The deadline given by President Vidya Bhandari to political parties to form a coalition government under Article 76(2) of the Constitution was ending on Sunday evening. Sources said that along with Prachanda, CPN-UML president KP Sharma Oli, Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Ravi Lamichhane, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party chief Rajendra Lyngden and other top leaders went to the President’s office and claimed to form the government. An important meeting of CPN-UML, CPN-MC, Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and other smaller parties was held here under the leadership of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. In the meeting, all the parties agreed to form the government under the leadership of Prachanda. The motion claimed the support of 165 members in the 275-member House of Representatives. It includes 78 members of CPN-UML, 32 members of CPN-MC, 20 members of RSP, 14 members of RPP, 12 members of JSP, six members of Janamat and three members of Civil Liberation Party. Sources said 165 MPs signed the letter claiming to form the government.
Who will become the PM after Prachand
Prachand and Oli have agreed to head the government on a rotational basis and Oli has agreed to make Prachand the first Prime Minister. Deuba and Prachand had earlier reached a tacit understanding to head the new government jointly. The NC offered the post of Speaker to the Maoist party which was rejected by Prachanda. Earlier in the day, CPN-MC Secretary Ganesh Shah said that the alliance has now been broken as last-minute talks between Deuba and Prachand remained inconclusive. CPN-UML president KP Sharma reached Oli’s private residence to seek support to become Prime Minister which was also attended by leaders of other minor parties. Nepali Congress is the largest party in the House of Representatives with 89 seats. While CPN-UML and CPN-MC have 78 and 32 seats respectively.