The leader of Nepal’s Maoists proposed a new unity government Tuesday, offering political rivals the pick of the top cabinet posts in a bid to end the deadlock crippling the restive Himalayan nation.
Maoist party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal told AFP he would let his rivals in the two largest opposition parties choose their ministries if they agreed to unite behind a Maoist premier in a cross-party administration.
“We are willing to allow Nepali Congress to choose the ministries. Factions within both the Nepali Congress and the Unified Marxist Leninists are positive about this,” Dahal said in a rare interview at his Kathmandu mansion.
The deal would provide hope of lasting consensus among Nepal’s warring political factions, who have been ordered by the president to form a new unity government by Thursday and end months of uncertainty in the impoverished country.
Dahal, better known as Prachanda from his time as leader of a decade-long Maoist insurgency, even entertained the possibility of one of the opposition groups leading a new government.
But he added that this would be unlikely to work with the parties still squabbling over the wording of a new peace-time constitution.
Maoist chief offers Nepal opposition top jobs: AFP interview
