INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 24CPN-Maoist Centre leader Barshaman Pun on Saturday told Prime
Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba that if his party did not support CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal's bid to lead the next government, his party
would sever ties with the current five-party alliance.
Deuba elected NC parliamentary party leader
Gagan Thapa lone challenger to Sher Bahadur Deuba
Pun told THT that he met Deuba after consulting Dahal and urged him to support Dahal to lead the
government for the first half of the five-year tenure
He reminded the PM that CPN- MC had supported the NC to form the government after the fall of Oli's govern-ment even when the NC had only 23
first-past-thepost House of Representatives seats.
Pun added that now the NC had won 57 FPTP seats, but it was certainly
through the CPN-MC's sacrifice that the NC had emerged the largest party
"We had won 37 FPTP seats and now we won just 18 FPTP seats.This means the NC has added seats on account of our party's sacrifice," Pun
added.Asked if his party would break away from the five-party alliance if Dahal was not allowed to lead the next government, Pun said, "It
will be difficult for us to remain in the alliance."A version of this article appears in the print on December 25, 2022, of The Himalayan
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com