Koirala asks Prachanda to take first steps

A senior Maoist leader said Koirala’s offer may pacify those among the Maoists who were “smelling a conspriacy and in a mood to go for another round of agitation.”

Seventy-hours before the new Constituent Assembly meets, no party has come forward to support the Maoists, who are the largest party though they only have 220 members in a house of 601. The second-largest Nepali Congress, with 110 members, has set seven conditions for supporting the Maoists in government formation.

One condition is the dissolution of the Young Communist League, which is known to run its own policing system. .

Besides the seven conditions, the Congress wants an amendment to the constitution that a government could be elected and removed by a simple majority in the Constituent Assembly, rather than the two-thirds majority now required.

It also wants the role of the head of the state clearly defined as soon as the country is declared a republic.