Nepal's political parties struggled on Friday to form a new coalition government to pull this Himalayan nation out of a crisis sparked by the prime minister's attempt to fire the country's army chief. President Ram Baran Yadav overruled Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's move, prompting Dahal to resign on Monday and pull his party from the ruling coalition. Yadav has asked the parties to set up the new government and name a new prime minister by Saturday, a deadline party leaders say is unrealistic if not impossible. Dahal, leader of the former Maoist rebels who laid down arms three years ago, accused army chief Rookmangud Katawal of reneging on an agreement to integrate the former rebels into the army, as the peace process that brought the Maoists into the political fold stipulated. The Maoists have been protesting both in the streets and in parliament since Dahal stepped down. About 200 Maoist supporters rallied near the President's House on Friday. Police in riot gear and batons blocked them and did not allow them to reach the gates. There was a brief scuffle between the protesters and the police, but no one was injured. The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), which is likely to lead the new coalition, said it was holding a meeting of its top party leaders on Friday to discuss a strategy. “Our priority will be to set up the new government including all the major political parties,” the party's general secretary, Iswor Pokhrel, said. “However, it is unlikely we will reach agreement by Saturday.” Other political parties agreed that that nothing would be finalized the next day. “It is impossible to agree and set up the government that soon,” said Krishna Sitaula of the Nepali Congress party. Both parties agree it is necessary to find a spot in the new government for the Maoists, who hold the most seats in the 601-member constituent assembly but do not have a majority. The Maoists have said they will only join the new government if the president reverses his decision on firing the army chief and have warned they will continue to demonstrate to block a new prime minister from being voted in. They have stayed away from the crisis talks. It technically would be possible to form a government without the Maoists, who have 238 assembly members to the Nepali Congress' 114 and the 109 of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist). The rest of the seats are divided among smaller parties who are still undecided on who they would support. But sidelining the Maoists could further rock the country's fragile stability, achieved after Maoist guerrillas ended their 10-year insurgency, laying down their arms and joining a political peace process.
