Nepal: Opposition will come together to snatch power from Prachanda, Deuba-Oli's meeting intensifies activities

Power politics in Nepal has reached its peak, and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda will face the majority test on Friday, the last step to save his government. The challenge for Prachanda in getting a vote of confidence in the test. At the same time, before the majority test in a meeting, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN UML's KP Sharma Oli discussed the formation of a new coalition government. This is where it was decided that during the three-year term of Parliament, the leaders of both parties would become Prime Ministers for one and a half years each. According to this, KP Sharma Oli will be the Prime Minister in the first phase. Sources say that the new government can be formed by Sunday.

On the very backdrop of signing a power-sharing agreement with the Nepali Congress, the CPN UML, the biggest party in the government, withdrew support from Prachanda's government last week. With that, eight cabinet ministers of CPN UML, the largest ally party of the government, resigned en masse. Subsequently, CPN UML called for the resignation of Prachanda. But the Prime Minister refused to resign and is ready to face the confidence vote in the Parliament. Though Prachanda has begun efforts, it is a big challenge for him to garner support for the vote of confidence.

Before the floor test to be held on Friday, CPN UML President KP Sharma Oli met Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba. This was for the formation of a new government. The meeting at Deuba's residence lasted two hours, in which both leaders signed for a new coalition government and discussed modalities of handing over the agreement to the President. According to sources, consensus was reached for the induction of smaller parties in the new government. The parties have agreed to share the government in turns with one another for the remaining three-year term in the Parliament. In this, KP Sharma Oli will be the prime minister for one and a half years during the first phase. According to sources, a new government led by Oli, with support from the Nepali Congress, is going to be formed by Sunday itself.

The Nepali Congress Party has 89 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives of Nepal, while CPN UML has 78. Both parties have a combined total of 167 seats, more than enough to get a majority figure of 138. While Prachanda's party has a paltry 32 seats, Prachanda is likely to get 63 votes in the majority test. In such a scenario, Prachanda's defeat is almost certain. Within the last 16 years, Nepal has changed 13 different governments.