In perhaps the strongest sign yet of the widening gulf between the two key ruling coalition partners, the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre), the latter on Wednesday decided to field its own candidate for the post of National Assembly chair.

On the other hand, Nepali Congress claims that its potential candidate for the post, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, contested National Assembly membership last month following assurance from Prime Minister and Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal that his party would help elect Sitaula the upper house chair.

“As many of our comrades suggested that the party field its own candidate for the post, the Standing Committee meeting has decided accordingly,” said Agni Prasad Sapkota, spokesman of the CPN (Maoist Centre).

During Tuesday’s Standing Committee meeting, almost all members reportedly demanded that the party should have its own candidate for the post of National Assembly chair. The election to the upper house chair is scheduled for March 12 and interested parties should file candidacy on March 7.

As the Maoist Centre has emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly after last month’s election and the chair of the National Assembly is also a member of the Constitutional Council that recommends office bearers for constitutional bodies, the Maoist Centre wants to see its representative in the prestigious post.

During Tuesday’s meeting, several Standing Committee members also voiced their apprehensions over some proposals floated in the recently concluded Mahasamiti meeting of the Nepali Congress and stated that such proposals could sow misunderstanding within the ruling alliance.

“Nepali Congress betrayed us in the upper house election, so we have to prepare our own candidate [for upper house chair],” Dahal said at Wednesday’s meeting. “We should not break the alliance at this moment but we have to have our own candidate.”

The rift between Nepali Congress and Maoist Centre, which subscribe to opposing ideologies, started widening after Champa Karki, a Maoist Centre’s candidate for the upper house, lost the election from Koshi Province. The Maoist Centre has attributed Karki’s loss to an apparent betrayal by the Nepali Congress.

“Karki lost the election due to factionalism and nepotism inside the Nepali Congress,” Dahal said at the meeting on Wednesday. “Although it [the perceived betrayal] was not done by the party [ Nepali Congress] in an organized way,” Dahal reportedly said at the party meeting

Dahal added that there is no alternative to the current ruling alliance but that some agenda items of the Mahasamiti meeting have made him suspicious, said a Standing Committee member quoting Dahal.

The Maoist Centre has expressed reservations over Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa’s proposal against electoral alliances. Also, certain statements made by Nepali Congress Vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka in his report regarding the decade-long Maoist insurgency, have caused disquiet in the Maoist Centre.

Congress leader Khadka, meanwhile, has met Prime Minister Dahal and assured him that the upcoming Central Working Committee meeting of the Nepali Congress will ‘rectify’ some of the proposals endorsed by the Mahasamiti.

The Maoist meeting also expressed concerns over the signature campaign by over 1,000 Mahasamiti members calling for restoration of the Hindu state. They had submitted the signatures to party president Deuba.

“I spoke to Deuba and Khadka about the Koshi vote issue and some proposals discussed at the Congress Mahasamiti,” said Dahal. “I found that Deubaji has taken them seriously.”

Despite the Maoist party’s announcement on Tuesday, Nepali Congress leaders are hopeful that the current ruling alliance will remain intact and any decisions will be made through consultationS.

“There is no alternative to the alliance, but ON the candidacy for the National Assembly chair, the ruling parties will sit soon and come up with a decision,” said Ramesh Lekhak, chief whip of the Nepali Congress.

Two general secretaries of the Nepali Congress, Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, are scheduled to meet party president Deuba on Thursday in order to discuss the dispute over the candidate for National Assembly chair, fate and future of the ruling alliance and calling the meeting of the party’s central working committee meeting.

“The election to the National Assembly chair is a litmus test for us,” Sharma told the Post, adding, “If we reach an agreement amicably, then the ruling alliance will go smoothly otherwise, there will be problems.”

“The Maoist Centre also has the option of seeking UML’s support for the National Assembly chair, and in that case we will have to quit the government,” said Sharma, adding, “By keeping all these options in mind, we will talk to the party president on Thursday.”

Out of the 59 seats, one National Assembly member will be appointed by President Ram Chandra Paudel on the recommendation of the Cabinet.

So out of the 58 seats, currently the Maoist Centre has 17, Nepali Congress 16, UML 10, CPN (Unified Socialist) eight, Janata Samajbadi Party three, and Rastriya Janamoracha and Loktantrik Samajbadi Party have one each.

According to the Maoist spokesman Sapkota, the meeting also decided that Maoist Contre will contest the upcoming national elections independently.

Sapkota said his party’s central committee and the recently concluded policy convention have already decided that the party would contest the next national elections independently. “But the decision on whether to forge alliances will be made at that specific time,” said Sapkota.