The presidential visit will give Khanal, a former school teacher, time to come up with a small cabinet by Sunday, when the new government is likely to be sworn in. Though the 61-year-old urged the political parties supporting him not to sit in opposition, the Nepali Congress, his former ally, however ruled out joining Khanal's government. Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala, flaying Khanal's last-minute poll alliance with the Maoists, called it a ploy by the former rebels to capture power and said his party would support the new government issue-wise, depending on their merits and demerits.
But an ethnic party from the Terai plains – the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum – on Friday said it could join Khanal's government. Though the Forum had supported Khanal's rival from the plains, Bijay Kumar Gachhedar, on the eve of the prime ministerial election, it had however skipped the vote. It was another salutary lesson for Nepal's feuding parties as the Forum had been split by Gacchedar in 2009 because he had wanted to join a communist-led government while party chief Upendra Yadav had supported the Maoists.
As Khanal's residence in Dallu experienced a carnival with supporters and well-wishers flocking in to congratulate him, conspicuous among the well-wishers was the Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Qiu Guohong. Khanal said both Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who congratulated him on phone last night, and the Chinese envoy told him that they wanted to improve and expand ties with Nepal. Khanal said he himself too wanted that and his government would seek equi-distance from both Nepal's giant neighbours.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the election of a new PM, saying the UN stood ready to support all efforts to complete the country's peace process, including the adoption of a new constitution by May 28.
"The Secretary-General... believes this development will give a significant boost to efforts to fully implement their outstanding commitments under the Comprehensive Peace Accord and the interim constitution, notably the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants, democratization of the army and adoption of a new constitution," a statement issued by his office in New York said.
The Maoists, fighting a feud among themselves with a faction opposing the union with Khanal, began consultations about who they would send to the cabinet. Media reports said their former minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who last year torpedoed Prachanda's chance of winning the election after he was recorded during a phone conversation as seeking money from a Chinese businessman to buy MPs' votes, is rumoured to be the new deputy prime minister as well as foreign minister.
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