The five party coalition government is preparing to move forward the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC) agreement approval process on Wednesday. After Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba insisted on presenting the MCC agreement in the next parliament sitting, Chairman of UCPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Chairman of CPN (Unified Socialist) Madhav Kumar Nepal were also “ready”.
In the current situation, it is believed that Prachanda-Nepal will not vote in favor of the MCC agreement. The House of Representatives meeting has been called for Wednesday.
Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel said a formal decision would be taken at a meeting of the ruling coalition on Tuesday to table the MCC agreement in House of Representatives. “I can’t stop MCC now. There is a lot of pressure,” Deuba had informed at a meeting of top leaders on Saturday. Earlier, Prachanda and Nepal had repeatedly suggested to the Prime Minister Deuba that the agreement be ratified by all parties.
After Prime Minister Deuba’s stance to table the Bill anyway, Prachanda and Nepal are positive that the alliance will not be broken and the MCC agreement will not be obstructed for discussion in the parliament.
A source close to the Prime Minister said that Prachanda and Nepal were positive about the MCC to table at Wednesday’s meeting.
The Maoists and the Unified Socialists are likely to be absent during the approval process. Prime Minister Deuba is confident that the agreement can be approved by the majority of the parliamentarians present in the House. Prime Minister Deuba is confident that the main opposition CPN UML will vote in favor of the MCC agreement. Four years ago, CPN UML Chairman and then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had taken the agreement to the Parliament for approval. The agreement could not be tabled in the parliament due to strong opposition within the then Communist Party of Nepal (CPN).
The future of the ruling coalition was in doubt over MCC ratification. Prime Minister Deuba also had a dialogue with CPN UML Chairman Oli thinking about what to do if he leaves power due to the UCPN (Maoist Center) and Unified Socialist. Oli had long called for unconditional support from outside the government. He had made the same proposal during a meeting with Prime Minister Deuba some time ago. After receiving such assurance from Oli, Prime Minister Deuba, who reached Balkot carrying the agenda of opening the parliament blockade, tried to move the MCC agreement forward.
Congress leaders are of the view that Deuba has come to the point of giving continuity to the alliance after receiving a tip that Oli himself was planning to become the prime minister by splitting the alliance from within. “Break the alliance first, run the government alone,” Oli had said.
According to the leaders of the coalition parties, the absence of the CPN (Maoist Center) and the CPN (US) in the parliament is likely to be a middle ground for support for approval.
Meanwhile, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has called for all party meeting today.
