Kathmandu ∙ In Nepal, former Maoist guerrilla leader ‘Prachanda’ became the Prime Minister for the third time. Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda (68), a leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Center (CPN-MC), took oath of office. Prachanda, who ran in alliance with the ruling Nepali Congress, broke the alliance and joined hands with opposition leader KP Sharma Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) party. Prachanda and Oli will share the Prime Ministership for two and a half years out of five years.
In the election, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Dubey’s Nepali Congress won 89 seats and CPN-MC won 32 seats, while Oli’s CPN-UML won 78 seats. Discussions were going on with no one getting a clear majority.
It was decided to share the administration with Dubey. However, Dubey rejected Prachanda’s demand that he wanted the first two and a half years. Prachanda then joined hands with Oli. With the addition of other small parties, the coalition became 7 parties. Prachanda alleged that the reason for the collapse of the alliance was that the Nepali Congress demanded the presidency in addition to the first round.
Prachanda handed over the letter to President Bidya Devi Bhandari showing the support of 169 members of the 275-member Parliament. 3 Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers were sworn in. The Deputy Prime Ministers are Bishnu Paudal (CPN-UML), Narayan Kaji Shrestha (CPN-MC) and Rabi Lamichane of another ally Rashtriya Swatra Party (RSP). In 2006, the party entered the electoral arena following the peace accord.
Prachanda announced that India and China would be on an even keel. Prachanda and Oli are known to be biased towards China. India and Nepal share a 1850 km long border that runs through the states of UP, Bengal, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Sikkim. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and others congratulated Prachanda.
English Summary: Prachanda new Nepal prime minister
