KATHMANDU: With the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) quitting the government, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has initiated efforts to bring the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) and the Unified Socialist Party on board the government.

Prime Minister Prachanda has begun an initiative to get JSP and Samajwadi to the government since he fears that even these two parties can withdraw their support to the government at any time.

According to sources close to the Prime Minister’s Office, Dahal has already initiated discussions with some of his party leaders.

The JSP has 12 seats in the House of Representatives and the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led Unified Samajwadi has 10 seats.

“We have held two rounds of talks with JSP leaders,” a source close to PM Dahal said.

It may be noted that 268 out of 275 Members of Parliament had on January 10 given a vote of confidence on Prime Minister Dahal.

Since JSP and Samajwadi also gave a vote of confidence to PM Dahal, it is politically convenient for them to participate in the government in the place of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which quit the government on Sunday.

The RSP has 19 MPs in the House of Representatives.

Currently, the PM Dahal-led cabinet has five ministries without ministers.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labor and Employment, Ministry of Forest and Environment, and Ministry of Youth and Sports are vacant.

As a result, Pm Dahal can appoint five ministers and one minister of state.