CPN-UML leader Lal Babu Pandit has said the next government will be formed under party Chairman KP Sharma Oli, ruling out suggestions that the leadership would be changed on rotation basis.

“There is no doubt that KP Oli will lead the country for full five years. The leadership will not change on rotation basis,” Pandit said, while speaking at an interaction organised at the Reporters’ Club in the Capital on Tuesday.

Amid swirling speculation that senior leaders of the left alliance of CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Jhalanath Khanal or Madhav Kumar Nepal could lead the party, Pandit said, “Oli might also lead the unified party. We are holding discussions on the matter.”

The former minister for General Administration said that discussions were under way in the left alliance over allocating power to the leaders.

“We forged an electoral alliance in the recently held federal parliament and provincial assembly elections based on certain rules. We will also make a special rule for the unification of parties and hold discussions accordingly,” he said. “Everything will be sorted out; there is no doubt and qualm.”

He said that the parties will be unified only after the formation of a new government.

“There is no doubt over the merger. The government will be formed first, and then we will move ahead with the party unification,” he said.

Saying that people cast their votes by trusting the left alliance, he vowed that the new government will work for uplifting the lifestyle of people and for the prosperity of the country.

“Now, a stable government under the UML will lead the country towards the path of prosperity in the next five years,” he said, adding that it would put an end to the game of musical chairs in the country which has seen 26 governments since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990.

Asking the Nepali Congress to respect the fresh public mandate by handing over the power without delay, Pandit said that an ordinance pertaining to the National Assembly presented to President Bidya Devi Bhandari should be rolled back at the earliest.

“The ordinance will be issued, but not in the present form. The incumbent government should revoke the current ordinance and should be sent back in a new form,” he said.