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VOL. 27, NO. 28, March 21, 2008 (Chaitra 08 2064 B.S.)
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Left Out
The leftist political parties have not forged electoral alliance even though the debate refuses to die down
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
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Prachanda: Left March |
If one goes through the statements made by responsible leaders of big communist parties in the past one week, one is most likely to get confused.
The leaders have, at once, blown hot and cold – made friendly gestures and inimical rhetorics with equal ease.
Most interesting have been the war of words between leaders of Maoists and UML.
"The UML is ready for alliance. But they have to make realistic proposal," claimed UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal. According to him, the Maoists came with proposal demanding 60 percent of seats for themselves.
For a party that had won 30 percent of popular vote in the previous election, coming close second to Nepali Congress (NC), the UML general secretary was understandably angered by the proposal.
While continuing to attack Maoist for its extremist politics, UML leaders have not, however, ruled out alliance with them. "At local level, we can have alliance," said Nepal.
But the 'local level' apparently did not include constituencies in the capital valley – which has been the traditional UML stronghold. Even Kathmandu 10 constituency, from where Maoist chief Prachanda is contesting, has not been able to bring the two parties together.
"We have sympathies for Prachanda. We wish he will win from Rolpa. But Kathmandu is our stronghold. There is no question of giving that up," a UML candidate Krishna Gopal Shrestha told reporters recently.
On the other hand, the Maoist leaders have made no bones about their wish to strike electoral alliance with the UML.
Dismissing claims that the Maoists want to enter into such an alliance because they fear huge defeat in the election, the Maoists have pounced on the UML leadership terming them everything from 'traitors' to 'anti-communists.'
In so doing, the Maoist chairman Prachanda even dug up the graveyards to denigrate the UML leadership. After his overtures to the UML failed to entice the latter to forge electoral alliance, Prachanda, addressing an election rally in Siphal of Kathmandu recently, accused the UML of selling out Mahakali river (referring to the controversial Mahakali Treaty with India signed over a decade ago) and 'betraying' the Nepali people at crucial moments (referring to the UML decision of joining Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government after October 4, 2002 step by King Gyanendra).
"What do these parties think of the people? Nepali people are not fools. They know who are traitors," he said.
Prachanda claimed that his party had broached the issue of leftist electoral alliance not because it feared defeat in the election but because it wished to institutionalize republic.
He also added that UML used to win the election in the past by putting itself forward as a communist party. Now the original communist party has come forth and there is no need to go for make-believes, he said.
Another senior leader of the Maoists, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, even went to the extent of accusing that the UML was 'opportunist.'
Strangely, despite their venomous attack, both Prachanda and Dr. Bhattarai are still making comments saying that the door for forging electoral alliance with the UML is open.
As less than a month remains for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election, the Maoists and the UML leaders know it very well that the door is closing very fast. Otherwise, as another leftist leader Amik Sherchan has recently said, the egos of the 'big parties' might kill the alliance before it is born.
