Khanal to reshuffle Cabinet

• Unfazed by his party’s warning, looks for concrete Maoist stand on peace, statute

KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI & BHADRA SHARMA

KATHMANDU, JUL 29 -

Despite the warning from his party—CPN-UML—Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal is prepared to reshuffle the Cabinet once the Maoist party comes up with a concrete proposal on peace and statute. The PM’s close aides said he has agreed to go for the reshuffle “for the time being” while keeping open the option of a national unity government.

PM Khanal has demanded ten days’ time from his party to forge consensus among the parties on completing the remaining tasks of peace and statute writing processes. Khanal put forward his proposal at the UML Standing Committee meeting on Thursday. Though the meeting turned down his proposal to reshuffle the Cabinet, Khanal, who seems to be close to a deal with the Maoists, is prepared to move ahead with his decision.

“It is the prime minister’s discretion whether or not to reshuffle the Cabinet. It is none of the party’s business,” Minister for Prime Minister’s Office Affairs Ghanshyam Bhusal told the Post, “He [prime minister] will address the Maoist demand to reshuffle the Cabinet at the right time.”

Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and PM Khanal have been holding a series of meetings for the last three days to reach an understanding on reshuffling the Cabinet and forge an agreement on making a breakthrough on peace and statute writing. Sources said if all goes as planned by Khanal and Dahal, only Maoist ministers will be inducted in the government, but not state ministers. They said talks have been positive and the Cabinet could be reshuffled soon. Maoist Politburo Member Janardan Sharma, who is close to Dahal, said the full ministers could take the oath of office on Friday.

PM’s aide Bhusal also said since the ministers’ appointment is the PM’s discretion, he would not shy away from reshuffling the cabinet. “But, this does not mean that he wants to continue without making any progress. He will resign if he fails to make visible progress on outstanding issues related to peace and statute within the given time” he said.

UML Secretary Shankar Pokhrel said the SC meeting rejected Khanal’s proposal as there was no guarantee that he would be able to deliver what he has promised. A majority of standing committee members including senior leader KP Sharma Oli, Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary Ishwor Pokharel and Secretary Pokharel advised him to quit on time instead of reshuffling the Cabinet. “Reshuffling of the Cabinet is not the solution. Our focus should be on completing the peace and statue writing processes,” said Secretary Pokharel. @ ekantipur