Amid reports that the Maoists have promised their support to UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal as a possible replacement of Girija Prasad Koirala as the interim Prime Minister, Maoist chairman Prachanda today said there is no need for change in the government’s leadership at the moment.

“Changing government’s leadership will not be a right thing to do, both politically and practically,” Prachanda told state-owned Radio Nepal, “The main focus at the moment is on how the proposals passed by the parliament could be implemented.”

Prachanda, however, said the issue of leadership change will arise if the Nepali Congress, which leads the interim cabinet, does not take seriously the parliament’s directive to the government to take immediate steps towards implementing republican system and adopting proportional voting system for the forthcoming constituent assembly election.

“Now the pressure is on the Nepali Congress to implement the proposals, but it should not view this in negative light,” he said.

Meanwhile, UML general secretary Nepal has also made a similar claim– that there haven’t been preparations whatsoever to alter the government’s leadership.

Talking to the same radio station, Nepal said, “Our only concern is the conduct of timely election while maintaining unity of the seven parties. There is no alternative to the alliance of the seven parties.”

He added, “Constituent assembly election is the principal agenda and the issue of government leadership is attached to the issue of election. Certainly, the domination of the Nepali Congress in the government has created problems time to time, but the involvement of the NC is equally necessary.” The UML general secretary also emphasised that process for implementation of the proposals passed by the special session of the House should start immediately.

The clarification from the bosses of the two biggest community parties, which together make a majority in the interim parliament, comes a day after their ‘secret’ meeting in which they reportedly discussed a change in the government in the new political context after the passage of the proposals on republic and proportional system.

While the Nepali Congress voted against the two proposals, the Maoists and the UML joined hands in ensuring the agenda of republic never failed in the parliament.