OBSERVATION

Who is behind PM Bhattarai?

Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai is finally ready to give a full shape to the cabinet of ministers. According to media reports and also sources within the party, new ministers will be inducted within this week and portfoloios may also be changed of some of the present ministers. Again, this cabinet expansion will be a delicate task, as Bhattarai as Prime Minister may have to accommodate the wishes of the different smaller factions within the Nepali Congress, not the least being the demands of party president Girija Prasad Koirala.

Though some signs of dissastisfaction surfaced right after the present council of ministers was announced some two weeks back, most expect things to quiten down, at least for some time after this week’s changes and addition of ministers. If Girija and his men are placated, the rest will keep quiet.

The reason is, two of the most powerful young leaders within the Congress are now supporting Bhattarai. These two leaders are none other than former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and former Home Minister and presently Minister for Supplies, Khum Bahadur Khadka. If one glances at the recent election results, then it can be seen that these two enabled the party to sweep in the Far West zones controlled by them.

Of course, these two are not supporting Bhattarai due to any excessive love for him. They have gotten behind him just because of their enemity with Koirala. Here it may be pointed out that Koirala, made wrong decisions when he distanced these two powerful and promising leaders. Quite naturally, Koirala listened to his close coterie of advisors, who gave more wrong advice than right ones. First he alienated Deuba by orchestrating the downfall of his government. Koirala supporters feared that Deuba may become too powerful if he became the Prime Minister for too long. Koirala could easily have cotrolled the young PM through other means rather than trying to cut him off altogether.

Then Khum Bahadur was infuriated when he was not made the Home Minister when Koirala headed the coalition government. Later the tussle grew so much that Khum Bahadur felt he may not be given the right constituency during the election. IGP Achyut Kharel joined in the bandwagon by taking Koirala’s side and trying to sideline Khadka, the Home Minister who reinstated him as IGP once.

It is said these two young leaders have quite a sizeable support among the present lot of new MPs. But still, it is only inside their rooms that these two can go against Koirala himself. Koirala is just too senior and he commands too much respect for them to face up to him openly. That is why now Deuba and Khadka are backing Bhattarai. He is the front through which they counter Koirala.

Now the biggest threat to the present government is from within, exactly like when Deuba was the Prime Minister of a coalition government. Koirala himself may not want to destabilize his own party’s government, but his near and dear ones have a great sway over him. If they constantly badger him on his lack of power and Bhattarai’s or Deuba’s popularity, then Koirala may react negatively, this would be bad for the party and the nation.

Koirala should desist from taking any damaging steps against the present government, no matter how dissatisfied he may be. He should not listen to the disgruntled voice of some of his close aides.

On the other hand, Bhattarai, knowingly or unknowingly, is making moves to consolidate his position. And like mentioned above, it is Deuba and Khadka, who are supporting him whole-heartedly. According to a source within the party, these two have assured the Prime Minister that even if he includes Koirala men in the cabinet, they will be cornered and not allowed to spread their wings. Bhattarai, never ambitious or hard working like Koirala, seems satisfied with the set-up.

However, one weakness which even Deuba and Khadka cannot control is the lady in the Prime Minister’s life. Much has been written about her in the media in recent times. The lady, call her Bhattarai’s PA, his handy woman or his mental crutch in old age, does seem to have a very strong influence in his life now. But it has to be understood she has made a lot of sacrifices to get to her present position.

Forget the political struggle she made in the past, in recent years, when Bhattarai had been written off as a has been, the woman, who is known as Amita Kapali, stayed with Bhattarai and gave him company and probably comforted him during this low down period. Now Bhattarai is in power, she must be taking advantage of the situation.

But of course, a woman has caused the downfall of many great men and Ms. Kapali should not also overdo it. The media reports of her till now are far from flattering. If she does even ten per cent of what has been reported, then she will earn more enemies than Koirala did. However it is difficult to see PM Bhattarai taking a stand against her. How he handles this delicate matter of keeping his close woman friend in place, it is difficult to say. This is the inside story of the power struggle within the party. On the outside, the party has other difficult challenges which must be tackled unitedly.

The Maoist problem, the up-coming budget, welfare schemes for the people, the threat of a street agitation from the ML, resurrecting the sagging economy, appointing new people and also giving a direction to the country’s foreign policy. These major issue must be looked into right away without any delay.

It can be hoped that the full fledged cabinet of ministers which we expect to see this week, will get down to work at once and not get bogged down in internal squabbles.