By Shambhu Bhujel

    KATHMANDU, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's new Prime Minister-elect Madhav Kumar Nepal is likely to assume office Tuesday after being sworn in by President Ram Baran Yadav, his aide and party worker Nitesh Poudel said on Sunday.

    The 56-year-old communist leader, who was elected unopposed Saturday, began consultations with leaders of his Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) in the party office in Nepali capital Kathmandu Sunday morning to frame a new cabinet, that could also be sworn in on Tuesday if there is no major dissent.

    A clearer shape of the new government would emerge after Nepal also holds meetings with the leaders of the major political parties who supported him in the prime ministerial race.

    His most powerful ally, the Nepali Congress of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, is still debating whether to join the new cabinet or support it from outside.

    Koirala, who was instrumental in Nepal's bid of becoming the new premier, is asking for "cooperation, consensus and unity" among the major parties to take the peace process to its conclusion.

    He has advised Nepal to form a coordination committee comprising the top leaders of all major parties to guide the new government and draw up a common minimum program.

    The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has however rejected the call for cooperation.

    The party's deputy leader in parliament, Narayan Kaji Shrestha (also known as "Prakash"), Saturday told the house that his party would boycott the new government.

    The other influential ally of the new government, regional party Madhesi People's Rights' Forum, is likely to be a demanding partner.

    The party, that has its stronghold in the country's southern lowlands, known as the Terai, has been divided into two groups over supporting Nepal. Now both factions are clamoring for an equal number of key ministries.

    Nepal, a former bank employee who had joined the communist movement as a student in 1966, said his priority would be shepherding in a new constitution by next year, restoring law and order and addressing "people's aspirations".

    The former deputy prime minister also said his government would try to nurture friendly relations with foreign governments and not indulge in blaming external forces for the country's problems.

    The son of a rich, landed upper caste family, Nepal said he joined the Communist Party of Nepal in 1969 after being inspired by Russian author Maxim Gorky's celebrated "Mother" novel.

    This is the second time that the CPN-UML has headed the government in Nepal. The party once led a nine-month government since November, 1994.