Won't quit, would rather face confidence vote: Nepal PM Prachanda

The development came after Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman K.P. Sharma Oli inked a midnight power-sharing deal to form a new ‘national consensus government’ to replace the Prachanda-led coalition government.

Embattled Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has decided not to resign from the post despite an agreement reached between the country's largest parties - Nepali Congress and CPN-UML - to form a new coalition government.

In a meeting of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) office-bearers held in Baluwatar on Tuesday, Prime Minister Prachanda said he would rather face a vote of confidence in Parliament than resign from the post, the party Secretary Ganesh Shah told PTI.

"The Prime Minister has decided to seek a vote of confidence," said Mr. Shah.

Mr. Prachanda, 69, has won three votes of confidence in Parliament during his one-and-a-half-year term.

The development came after Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman K.P. Sharma Oli inked a midnight power-sharing deal to form a new 'national consensus government' to replace the Prachanda-led coalition government.

Also read | Nepal’s coalition politics, a game of musical chairs 

Nepali Congress, the largest party in the House of Representatives (HoR) has 89 seats at present, while CPN-UML has 78 seats. The combined strength of the two large parties is 167, which is sufficient for a majority of 138 seats in the 275-member HoR.