By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Feb. 17: The government did not table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the parliament on Wednesday as was planned on Tuesday after the ruling CPN (Maoist Centre) decided in a meeting of its Parliamentary Party to stand against it unless a border national consensus is forged.

The MCC was not tabled after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda held a one-on-one meeting on Wednesday.
After the Parliamentary Party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre), Prachanda reached Prime Minister Deuba’s official residence in Baluwatar to inform the latter about his party’s decision.
The parliamentary party meeting of the Maoist Centre decided against tabling the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the American grant, in the Parliament on Wednesday and seeking political consensus on it before tabling this. After listening to the decision of the Maoist Centre, Prime Minister Deuba and Prachanda agreed to table the MCC in the House of Representatives (HOR) on Friday, informed the Prime Minister’s press chief Govinda Pariyar.

According to Pariyar, chiefs of the ruling parties also agreed to hold a meeting of the ruling coalition parties at 3 pm on Thursday to forge consensus on the MCC. Earlier on Tuesday morning, a meeting of the Parliamentary Party of the NC and its Central Work Performance Committee meeting in the afternoon had decided to table the MCC in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Earlier today, the CPN (Maoist Centre) in its parliamentary party meeting decided that national consensus should be forged on the (MCC) compact before tabling it in the parliament.
The meeting concluded that there should be broader national consensus before tabling MCC in the parliament.
The CPN (MC) decided to stand against the MCC, as the government was preparing to table the MCC in the parliament today.

Nepali Congress, which has been leading the ruling coalition, has been preparing to present the proposal seeking endorsement of the MCC from the parliament.
Chief Whip of CPN (MC) Dev Gurung said the Parliamentary Party meeting decided that the MCC compact should not be tabled without amendment to its some provisions. Gurung said, “We are against the tabling of MCC in the Parliament. There should be a broader national consensus. If that doesn’t happen, we will withdraw from the coalition.”

The meeting also concluded that the CPN-UML’s obstruction must be ended for the tabling of the compact in the Parliament, said Gurung.
The meeting has also decided to start protests if the government tabled the compact without making amendments to it, said Gurung.