Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Monday met Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala and urged him to join the government.
Koirala did not give him a word regarding a comeback from the current opposition role but assured him that his party would play a constructive role to take the peace process to a logical conclusion, major component of which involves writing a new constitution of the country.
Recognising the important role he and his party Nepali Congress played from the start of the peace process to the election of the Constituent Assembly, and considering the good understanding between us, I urged Girija Babu to join the government, Prime Minister Prachanda said. "I sought his help to take the peace process to a logical end and write the constitution within the stipulated time frame," PM Prachanda told the journalists after the meeting.
The Prime Minister and CPN-Maoist chief Prachanda claimed that the NC president seemed positive about his request for joining the government. "Although Koirala did not give any word for joining the government at the moment, his body language suggested that he would consider it. I hope Nepali Congress will eventually join the government."
He said that Koirala had made it clear to him that he and his party would help the government with the constitution-writing and the peace process. "Koirala said understanding could be made by timely meetings and discussions, and everything will go easily."
"Reasoning that without an understanding among major political parties, accomplishing the task of constitution-writing and taking the peace process to a logical end will be difficult, I urged him to be flexible to join the government and not to be rigid against it," the PM said.
Prime Minister Dahal said that he also urged the NC president to play a positive role as the main opposition in forming different constitutional and political commissions during his twenty-minute long talks at the latter’s residence at Maharajgunj of the capital.
"I told him that as the first elected PM of republic Nepal I had tried my best to apprise the international community about the positive change in Nepal. Now that we had to focus on speeding up the works in the country, I needed his help," Dahal said.
He stated that the former Prime Minister and NC president Koirala had given him word of full cooperation.
PM Prachanda informed that the government would take major decisions including that of the formation of the special committee for the integration of the People’s Liberation Army in the meeting of the Council of Ministers to be held within a few days.
