CK Raut, president of the Janamat Party, held talks with Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi on Wednesday and offered to join the new ruling coalition.

Nidhi confirmed to the Post about his meeting with Raut. Nidhi later visited Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and briefed him about his meeting with Raut.

During their meeting at Baluwatar, Nidhi informed Deuba that Raut has offered to support the ruling coalition in both the federal parliament and provincial assemblies and that the coalition should start talks with the Janamat Party.

In response, Deuba said he would discuss the issue with the coalition member parties, especially with Maoist Centre chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN (Unified Socialist) chair Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Raut has been elected to parliament from Saptari-2 defeating the chairman of the Janata Samajbadi Party, Upendra Yadav, with a big vote margin. Sources said Raut, who arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday, was invited by the ruling coalition parties to discuss a power-sharing deal.

Raut’s party has won one seat in parliament under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) and has already crossed the proportional representation (PR) vote threshold to become a national party. The party is likely to win four PR seats in federal parliament.

Similarly, the party has won seven provincial assembly seats under the FPTP system—six in Madhesh and one in Lumbini—and is likely to win six more provincial assembly seats under the PR system.

Although the final results from the November 20 elections are yet to be out and the ruling alliance is likely to fall short of winning a simple majority, 138 seats, the alliance has decided to partner with other parties or independent candidates to form government.

According to Nidhi’s secretariat, the meeting between Nidhi and Raut lasted one hour. During the meeting, Raut had insisted that he is a true democrat and believes in peace and democracy.

Meanwhile, a Janamat Party leader said the CPN-UML has also offered the party to join its fold and participate in the new government.