At a meeting of the high-level taskforce of the ruling Seven-Party Alliance, senior Maoist leaders said their party would stay out of the government if the president is not given executive powers and both positions are not given to the Maoists.

“If the government is to be formed under our leadership, the same person should be president as well as prime minister,” said Maoist leader Dev Prasad Gurung who attended the taskforce meeting Saturday. “We are in favor of a system with a unitary leadership.”

He said the Maoists won’t form a new government with power shared between the president and prime minister. “If the president becomes the army supreme commander, there will be no authority with the executive prime minister,” he said. “How can we form such a lame government?”

The Maoist leaders claimed there was bias on the part of the political parties while treating the Maoists. “When Giija Prasad Koirala held both the positions in the interim period it was justified but when we came up as the largest party to claim both positions it has become unacceptable to others,” Dr Bhattarai was quoted as saying at the meeting. He claimed that a political conflict was inevitable if two power centers were created.

When the Maoists put forth their position on future power-sharing and the president’s powers, the other allies in the government questioned their honesty. They claimed that the Maoists were going against what they had agreed to while amending the Interim Constitution on Wednesday.

“The amendment is for a ceremonial role for the president as s/he does everything including mobilization of the army under cabinet recommendation,” People’s Front Nepal leader Lila Mani Pokharel was quoted as saying. In response, the Maoists said the agreement to provide for a PM and a president was reached just for implementing the republic, and not for sharing power between them. They claimed that the provision defining the president’s role and the electoral process meant the president can have executive powers.

They also insisted that the election of the president should be through a two-thirds majority of the CA members instead of a simple majority as demanded by the NC , UML and other parties.

After the Maoists showed rigidity in their stance, the taskforce members could not come to any conclusion on the major political issue. People’s Front Nepal, NWPP and United Left Front leaders urged the NC, UML and Maoists to settle the dispute at their own level and come up with an agreed proposal. “As the Maoists revived their past position, we could not arrive at a consensus,” said NC general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi. “So we have agreed to let the top leaders decide the issue.”

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML General Secretary Jhala Nath Khanal are scheduled to meet Sunday afternoon, following a meeting of the 13 political parties represented in the Constituent Assembly.

During the meeting today NC and UML leaders criticized the Maoists for their latest remarks, especially those aimed at undermining the role of other parties in the future government.