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VOL. 27, NO. 32, April 25, 2008 (Baishakh 13 2065 B.S.)
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Poles Apart
Major parties brace for internal polarization over the formation of a new government
By SUSHIL SHARMA
“It is not decided yet. The central committee will meet soon and make a decision.”
That was influential Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai to a question on whether he was going to be the future prime minister.
Two days after Bhattarai made the remarks in a BBC talk show, his senior Prachanda told a Kirtipur rally that he would himself lead the government.
Projected by the party as “the future first president of Nepal”, Prachanda hinted that he would settle for the prime ministership. Even before the party’s central committee had met.
In a TV interview, also last week, Bhattarai dropped suggestion about a cultural king.
Less than 24 days later, his long-time rival in the party, Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ roundly brushed aside such a suggestion.
As debate on the shape of the future government intensified, influential UML leader K.P.Oli flatly ruled out the UML joining the coalition under a Maoist prime minister.
“How can we join hands with those who broke our head, beat us up and intimidated our family members,” he asked.
The veteran leftist leader had lost to an unknown young Maoist candidate in the eastern Jhapa district
Another key leader, Bamdev Gautam, beat a different note. He also received a severe drubbing at the hands of a Maoist underdog in Bardiya. But the UML lion roared, “We must work together with the Maoists to write a new constitution.”
A sizeable section of the UML leadership including the outgoing general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and the likes of Iswor Pokharel are also opposed to the idea of joining a Maoist-led government.
They fear that such a move would be seen as giving in to the Maoist intimidation.
A potential successor to Madhav Nepal at the helm of the UML is Jhalnath Khanal. He has not let his mind known yet.
But he will be at pains to bridge the sharp divide between the pro and anti Maoist factions.
The Nepali Congress faces a similar situation. No senior leader has spoken in favour of an alliance with the Maoists in the new government.
But the party’s pro-republican faction who had been accused of acquiescing too much to the Maoists is positively inclined towards the former rebels.
It puts blame more on the current leadership and the campaign management for the poll debacle.
But critics of the alliance with the Maoists have threatened to quit the party if the alliance was continued. They attribute the party’s “ideological deviation” towards the radical left to the election defeat.
“We have made it clear to the party president Girija Prasad Koirala,” said a senior leader, “if the party is forced to join the Maoists in the government, many heavyweights would either join the Madhesi Forum or remain idle.”
Analysts say, the possibility of former rulers of the aadhar chhetra in remote villages ruling from Singh Durbar in the capital may be an exciting event.
No less exciting will be its fallout on all the three major parties including the ex-rebel outfit.
