Kathmandu:
Veteran communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has inched closer to becoming Nepal's next Prime Minister with the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML alliance set to seal a crucial deal with the Terai-based Madhesi parties, a news report said on Wednesday.
The Joint Madhesi Democratic Front, the grouping of three ethnic Indian Madheshi parties with a combined strength 83 seats in the 601 member Parliament, agreed "in principle" to support a coalition led by the 54-year-old communist leader Nepal.
At a meeting of 18 parties held at Singha Durbar on Tuesday, the Madhesi front -- Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum (MPRF), Terai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) and Sadbhawana Party (SP) -- extended support to a CPN-UML-led coalition but said they would finalise on Wednesday whether to join the government.
The Madhesi parties decided to back the CPN-UML-led coalition after the CPN-UML, the third largest party in the Constituent Assembly and the main opposition party Nepali Congress, gave a written commitment to address the demands of the Madhesi parties for more economic and political powers, including greater federal autonomy for the Terai plains bordering India.
The letter, signed by communist party chairman Jhala Nath Khanal and Nepali Congress acting President Sushil Koirala, stated that the parties are ready to address the eight-point agreement reached between the government and the Madhesi parties in the past, myrepublica online said.