Just as 19 ministers were inducted into Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Cabinet, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), for which Deuba “had allocated at least two ministries”, announced on Wednesday that it had dissolved its dialogue committee formed to negotiate on its participation in the government and that it would not join the government.  

Stating that PM Deuba had taken “a unilateral decision” while expanding the Cabinet, the RPP said there “is no relevance” of the dialogue committee. PM Deuba on Wednesday inducted 19 ministers into his Cabinet. 

When the RPP voted for Deuba during the prime ministerial election on June 7, it was almost certain that the fourth largest party with 37 seats in Parliament would join the government. The party had immediately formed the dialogue committee led by its General Secretary Jayanta Chand to hold negotiations on ministerial portfolios.

Chand said his committee held dialogue twice with Deuba. “The committee was also supposed to discuss common minimum programme of the government,” Chand told the Post. “However, PM Deuba was not much interested in creating a conducive environment and decided to move unilaterally.” 

But multiple sources told the Post that the NC-Maoist Centre alliance was not very keen to bring the RPP into the government in the wake of a row between top RPP leaders and the party’s “opaque view” on constitution amendment. 

But a senior RPP leader told the Post that the ruling coalition failed to ensure the party’s demand that it should be given at least one more ministry than what has been given to the Nepal Loktantrik Forum. The ruling parties were for allocating only three ministries to the RPP, same as the NLF. “We were underestimated; our party is double in size compared to the NLF”, he argued. “The party, however, will continue to extend its support to the government from outside,” said Chand.

He also said that the party’s position on constitution amendment will not be affected by the recent development. The party has said it is positive about constitution amendment but its Central Executive Committee (CEC) will take formal decision.