Kathmandu, May 21 -- Two rival coalitions of Nepal's left, right and centre parties have both staked conflicting claims to lead the country after a prolongedpower strugglethat has impacted the capacity to deal with araging Covid-19 second wave.

The leader of the opposition Nepali Congress (NC) Sher Bahadur Deuba collected 149 signatures from his own party, the Maoist Centre (MC) as well as dissident factions of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) and Oli's own UML. The number was supposed to be enough to make Deuba Nepal's prime minister for the fifth time.

However, Prime Minister K P Oli reached Shital Nibas ahead of Deuba and his supporters on Friday afternoon with a claim to have the support of 153 members from his own UML party and the...