Nepal PM Prachanda to face vote of confidence

Kathmandu, March 20 (PTI) Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is set to face a confidence vote in Parliament on Monday, his second floor test less than three months after the new government was formed.

Prachanda on Sunday expressed confidence that he will comfortably win the trust vote in the House of Representatives.

Prachanda, 68, will face a vote of confidence after two parties in the seven-party coalition — the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party and the CPN-UML — withdrew support for the government. They refused Prachandas proposal to support Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Paudel for the presidency.

Prachanda, who was sworn in as the country’s prime minister in December, passed the confidence test on January 10 with 268 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR), after all parties except the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and the Rashtriya Party. Janamorcha voted in favor of the government.

Speaking to reporters after coming out of the Parliament building, Prime Minister Prashanth said he hoped to get all the votes on Monday.

“Last time, I got support from 99 percent of the members in the House of Representatives and this time I hope to get one hundred percent,” he said.

Earlier, the Prime Minister had told the coalition parties that they would go for a trust vote on March 20.

The 10 party alliance partners are CPN-Maoist Centre, Nepali Congress, CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal, Janamat Party, Rashtriya Jan Morcha, Nagarik Unmukti Party, Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party-. Nepal, Nepal Samajwadi Party and Aam Janata Party.

Nepali Congress, the largest party in the HoR, has decided to join the government after a trust vote was passed in favor of Prachanda on Monday.

“Nepal Congress has decided to support the Prasanda-led government during the trust vote and our party will come to power after the trust vote,” senior party leader Prakash Man Singh told PTI.

So far, the Nepali Congress, Rashtriya Swatantra Party and CPN-Unified Socialist have announced their votes for Prachanda, which is enough to win the trust vote for the prime minister.

The combined strength of the parties is 151, with 138 votes needed to win a trust vote in the 275-member HoR. PTI SBP NSA