Political

Despite being nearly one month on the seat, new prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was not able till the beginning of July to give a complete shape to his council of ministers though he had inducted two of his partymen – Prakash Man Singh and Bimalendra Nidhi – into it a few days after he took the oath of office. The only work worth mentioning effected by the new cabinet so far is the indirect negotiation with the Maoist students who agreed to let the educational institutions open after the government conceded to stop calling the Maoist students “terrorists”.

Deuba was busy wooing Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) to join the government. Though the major point of CPN-UML demand to amend the work performance rule of the cabinet was fulfilled, as claimed by Deuba, the participation of these two parties in the cabinet was being delayed due to the dispute over sharing the number of seats and portfolios, though the official version of the reason for the delay was the time taken in finalizing what is called as the Common Minimum Program (CMP) of the new government. Finally, the three parties together with the Sadbhavana Party faction led by former Deputy Prime Minister Badri Prasad Mandal agreed on the CMP and signed it on the last day of June, and the cabinet expansion was effected on July 5 by inducting two individuals believed to be chosen by the royal palace, 11 (including Bharat Mohan Adhikari who is given the post of deputy prime minister) from CPN-UML, five from the RPP and one from Sadbhavana (Badri Prasad Mandal himself though he is now placed 4th in the rank). Deuba’s party has now 12 individuals in the council of ministers including Deuba.

CMP

The 43-point CMP is divided into four broad headings of National Interest and Democracy, Resolution of the Maoist Problem and Restoration of Peace, Immediate Relief, and Commitments for Progressive Action and Change. The last heading includes number of points under political, economic and social subheadings. It promises to be “extremely flexible” to find a way out from the Maoist problem. Though it includes some points of CPN-UML’s list of demands (such as land reforms), it is silent about a number of the party’s demands such as putting the army under the government and to make the royal palace more transparent.

Also the verbiage used in other points of economic and social subheadings smack of UML ideology. For example, it talks of ‘identifying the utility and limitations of liberal economic policy and using it for the overall interest of the nation and the people’. Similarly, it says foreign investment will be invited in the ‘national interest’ and emphasis will be placed for the development of the government sector.

The CMP also talks about change in the labour laws for removing the inequalities existing in the labour market, guaranteeing social security to the labourers and improving the corporate productivity.

The political climate now has changed also because the four agitating parties – Nepali Congress, United People’s Front, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and Sadbhavana party (Anandi Devi) – have announced postponement on the Ratna Park centred agitation for about 45 days due to the rainy season. Meanwhile, Nepali Congress has started a relay hunger strike as a continuation of the agitation and its leader Girija Prasad Koirala went to New Delhi, ostensibly for health check up, but interpreted to be for meeting with the Maoist leaders sheltered in India. There indeed was a report of his telephone conversation with the Maoist leaders while in New Delhi. However, Koirala denied it when the reporters asked him about it at the airport on his arrival back from New Delhi.

Another hot news in the political front during the month was the rumor of former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa going to form a new political party. But the Thapa sources quickly denied it.

In a major development in the judicial sector, the Supreme Court formed a full bench to review the controversial verdict that freed a British drug peddler William Robinson. The two Supreme Court Justices who handed down the controversial verdict are sent on a prolonged leave.

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