Prachanda fails to make it as PM despite wooing Madheshis

With the breakaway group of 25-strong Madheshi alliance opting to stay away,Prachanda managed to get only 252 votes,far short of 301 required to get elected,amid reports of horse trading,bribery allegations and allegations of Maoists seeking funds from China to wean away lawmakers.

110 lawmakers voted against him,while 159 stayed neutral.

The breakaway Madheshi group,which had been wooed by the Maoists,apparently stayed away as even with their support,Prachanda was still short of numbers.

His rival Ramchandra Poudyal of the Nepali Congress fared no better barely managing to hold on to his party’s vote bank of 119.

As the lawmakers remained deadlocked,Speaker Subas Chandra Nembang set September 26 as the next date for a new trial of strength.

Despite the decision to cast vote in favour of the Maoist supremo,the Madhesi Janaadhikari Forum Nepal (MJF-N) abstained from voting. A MJF-N leader said the party lawmakers did not vote because it was obvious that despite their support the Maoist candidate would fall short of the majority.

The CPN-UML remained neutral in today’s election also,while Madhesi Janadhikar Forum stayed away from the House meeting.

Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal,whose resignation triggered the present impasse said that it is high time that the national consensus was forged.

Talking to the media at the Constituent Assembly premises after the seventh round of voting,Nepal opined that the power-sharing issues including election of the country’s executive head have become secondary now.

He said the parties should get together to forge the consensus with the proposal floated by his party as a focal point.

“Let’s forge the national consensus first,then we will mull over the power-sharing,” he said.