(Recasts with delay in formation of government)

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU, March 31 (Reuters) - Jostling over ministerial portfolios on Saturday delayed the formation of a new interim Nepalese government that would include former Maoist rebels, political leaders said.

The Maoists were set to join the new administration under a November peace pact with the multiparty government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, which ended a decade-old guerrilla war.

"Junior partners in the ruling coalition are insisting they be given senior positions in the new government," Devendra Raj Kandel, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress (Democratic), one of the seven parties in the present cabinet, told Reuters.

"So the prime minister could not finalise the cabinet line-up. It is shameful," Kandel told Reuters.

Parliament officials said the interim parliament, originally scheduled to meet on Saturday to approve the new cabinet, was awaiting the outcome of talks between Koirala and Maoist chief Prachanda and leaders of other parties.

"The session of the parliament which was due today has been put off until tomorrow (Sunday)," the parliament said in a notice.

Koirala was expected to resign only to be re-elected by parliament to head the interim government and then he will announce a new multiparty cabinet that includes the Maoists.

The Maoists are already part of the interim parliament which they joined in January under the November peace deal.

The interim government, when formed, will organise elections for a constituent assembly in June which is to map out the impoverished country's political future, including that of the monarchy, which the Maoists want abolished.

The new cabinet incorporating the Maoists is expected to inject fresh energy into a peace process clouded after anti-government protests by ethnic groups in Nepal's southern plains, which have left at least 58 people dead this year.

Earlier this week, a senior Maoist leader said Koirala was not ready to share key cabinet portfolios such as home or defence with the former guerrillas.

Political parties say the Maoists are continuing extortion, kidnappings and intimidation, despite the peace deal.

Under the deal the Maoists have housed their 31,000 fighters in camps and locked away nearly 3,500 weapons under United Nations supervision.

More than 13,000 people were killed in the Maoist revolt that started in 1996.

Officials say the interim government will have to set an exact date for the constituent assembly elections, a key Maoist demand.

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