Nepal fails again to agree on PM candidate

Nepal's political parties have failed again to name a candidate to replace caretaker Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai before Thursday deadline. The meeting of four major political parties, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M), the Nepali Congress (NC) , the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMC), in New Baneshwore on Thursday evening failed to agree on a candidate for prime minister. Agni Sapkota, spokesperson of UCPN-M, said that the parties are going to request President Ram Baran Yadav to extend the deadline for another time after it was set twice. "We'll continue the meeting. We'll request the president to extend the deadline. It's up to him how many days he extends," Sapkota told journalists. The meeting of the four parties on Thursday ended as the opposition parties decided to stand firm on forming the new government as the ruling parties were asked to make the package deal on issues, including new elections date and electoral laws, appointments of the constitutional bodies. Bamdev Gautam, vice-chairman of CPN-UML, said that they were informed about the decision made by Federal Democratic Republican Alliance, a grouping of ruling parties, that it was to stand firm on the package deal. However, citizens complain that leaders are very much centered on the party politics and not on the national consensus. "Political leaders are mere concentrated on their own party politics, so they never think of national consensus,"Nisha Rai, 24, resident of Basantapur, Kathmandu told Xinhua. Political analyst Lokraj Baral, professor and executive chairperson of the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Studies, said the ruling parties and opposition should be flexible on their stand. "To come to a consensus, both need to be flexible,"Baral said. President Yadav's press advisor Rajendra Dahal said that the president would hold a meeting with major political parties Friday to make decision regarding the extension of the deadline. The Nepali Congress on Wednesday proposed its president Sushil Koirala as the party's candidate for consensus prime minister but failed to gather support from the ruling parties. Nepal has been in a political deadlock since May when a special Constituent Assembly missed a deadline to prepare a new constitution. The Constituent Assembly was dissolved on May 28, 2012. Type the text here