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| Kathmandu, Thursday June 05, 2003 Jestha 22, 2060. |
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King appoints Thapa as Prime Minister
Post Report
KATHMANDU, June 4 : His
Majesty King Gyanendra today appointed Surya Bahadur Thapa as the new Prime Minister.
Thapa will take the oath of office and secrecy on Thursday alone as his efforts to rope in
political parties in the council of ministers might take some time.
Thapa’s
appointment brings to an end the controversy over ‘transfer’ of the executive
powers from the cabinet to the crown, following a royal decree on October 4, when the then
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was sacked and Lokendra Bahadur Chand nominated a week
later in his place. A press communiqué issued by the Royal Palace Press Secretariat said
the cabinet will enjoy all executive powers as provided in Article 35 of the Constitution
of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 and the prime minister would also be recommending the names
of new ministers, a conventional and constitutional prerogative which Chand didn’t
exercise.
Thapa was appointed
Prime Minister as per Article 127 of the constitution. The outgoing Chand government was
also appointed under the same article on October 11 last year.
On his appointment,
Thapa said his priority would be to continue the dialogue with the Maoists to take it to a
logical conclusion and rid the country of violence, which has taken a toll of around 8,000
lives in the past seven years.
Although CPN-UML and
four other political parties which proposed Madhav Kumar Nepal’s candidature for the
prime ministership, have expressed their dissatisfaction over Thapa’s appointment, a
strong section in the UML is understood to be in favour of participating in the new
government.
"The return of
executive powers in the cabinet is a victory for the five political parties which are
agitating for restoration of the constitutional process. Not participating in such a
government would be improper and contradictory to what we have been preaching," a
senior UML leader told The Kathmandu Post on condition of anonymity.
Talking to journalists
at his residence immediately after coming back from the palace, Prime Minister designate
Thapa said that his appointment was fundamentally different from that of his predecessor
Chand, who had resigned on Friday, following series of protests by the five major
parliamentary parties, so as to press the king to ‘rectify’ constitutional
errors. "The king has finally returned the executive powers to the council of
ministers," said Thapa.
The king has also asked
Thapa to recommend the names of the members of the council of the ministers, and to
accommodate all the political forces, to the extent possible.
Thapa said that it
would take some time to recommend the names for the council of ministers, as he would need
to consult with the other political parties.
As per the Article 35,
the executive powers shall be vested in the king and the council of ministers
collectively, but all the powers, except a few exclusively discretionary powers, shall be
exercised with the recommendation of the council of ministers.
Seventy-five-year-old
Thapa has been appointed to the top post for the fifth time in his political career that
dates back to 1958, when he was appointed as the chairman of the king’s Advisory
Council. He had served three times as Prime Minister during the Panchayat era and once
headed a coalition government after the restoration of democracy.
The five political
parties that have been agitating against the October 4 royal take-over, have flayed the
king’s decision. They have claimed that the prime minister should have been picked up
from among the leaders of the agitating political parties; and said they will go ahead
with their protests.
Thapa, however, claimed
that the ongoing five-party movement has ceased ipso facto with his appointment to the
post of Prime Minister, having full executive powers.
Though Thapa pledged to
continue the process of dialogue with the Maoists, that was initiated by the Chand
government on April 27, he declined to say whether the government dialogue team would
retain some of the earlier members. "We will think, discuss and decide later,"
he said, adding that it would take some more time to decide the fate of the dissolved
House of Representatives, which the political parties have been demanding to restore.
HIGHLIGHTS
* Appointment as per
Article 127
* New government to
enjoy full executive powers under Article 35
* Appointment
fundamentally different from that of Chand: Thapa
* Thapa asked to
incorporate other political forces in the cabinet
* Five parties to
continue with their protest programmes
* Thapa to give
continuity to peace talks
* Fate of the
government talks team unknown
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