“MCC may pass or may not… that I don’t know,” said Prime Minister Deuba at a book launch programme in Kathmandu on Thursday. “We have already decided from the party and the Parliamentary Party unanimously to ratify it. Now the government wants to table it in Parliament. I have been trying my best. Whatever the result, we have to accept it.”

Deuba, who is also the president of the Nepali Congress, said that what’s true is that MCC is in the best interest of the country.

The prime minister’s assertion comes hours before a meeting of the ruling coalition partners who are scheduled to discuss ways to find a consensus on the $500 million US grant.

Earlier on Wednesday, Deuba stalled his plan to table the MCC compact in Parliament after the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), a key coalition partner, threatened to pull out of the government if the grant agreement was tabled without consensus. 

The Maoist Centre as well as the CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rastriya Janamorcha of the ruling coalition are against the tabling of the US grant meant for building electricity transmission lines and improving roads in Nepal. 

The Janata Samajbadi Party, another coalition partner, is divided with a section led by former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai standing in support of the MCC compact. 

After continued delays by Nepali politicians on ratifying the compact, a frustrated Washington started building pressure, asking Nepal to either take it or leave it.

The United States over the past days communicated to the Nepali leadership that it wanted to see the compact ratified by February 28, a deadline sought by Deuba and Dahal.