With President Bidhya Devi Bhandari inviting parties to form a government, hectic parleys are taking place to hammer out the shape and size of the next Cabinet. The CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Nepali Congress have begun inter- and intra-party deliberations to finalise the list of ministers.

Maoist leader Tilak Pariyar said top leaders have begun consultations on a new government but nothing concrete has been worked out yet. Janardan Sharma, a key architect of the new coalition, said the two parties had agreed to allocate eight ministries to the Maoists including the Finance Ministry, 12 to the NC with the Home portfolio, among others, and other ministries to other parties who supported the no-trust motion tabled against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

“The party will begin discussion on forming the new government and select the ministers in an inclusive manner,” Maoist leader Sharma said. Sources claimed that key Maoist Centre leaders Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Sharma and Ram Karki would hold portfolios in the new government.

Sharma said the party would set the criteria whether or not to send leaders who had already become ministers but the selection would be inclusive in terms of ethnicity, gender and geography.

A meeting of the Nepali Congress on Monday decided to also hold talks with the Madhes-based parties in a bid to bring the agitating forces on board the new government. “The Madhes-based parties have been insisting on having their demands addressed before they take part in government,” NC leader Ramesh Lekhak told the Post.

Other potential partners in the new coalition include the Rastriya Prajatantra Party led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand, the Bijay Kumar Gachhadar-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik and the CPN Samyukta.

Sources said that Chand had already secured ministerial berths for his party in the new government before recalling his ministers from the Oli government. Despite some UML leaders hinting at their party being open to joining the new government under Pushpa Kamal Dahal, leaders from the two allies also suggested that the new coalition would keep the UML outside, but work with it in consensus for implementing the constitution. This would be the first time in a decade that the UML will be the main opposition.

Speaking in Parliament on Sunday, former prime minister and UML leader Jhala Nath Khanal suggested using the week’s time given by President Bhandari to seek consensus among the major forces on the new administration. However, PM Oli in his speech was clear enough that the UML would “watch from outside” the activities of the new government.