OBSERVATION

The end of the Pandey saga

Who will be the new Chairman of the National Assembly is still a suspense with no candidates being announced after last week’s bid by three MPs to be elected to the post. On Wednesday, it was Royal nominee Ramesh Nath Pandey who came closest to succeeding Beni Bahadur Karki, whose term expired a little over a month back.

Chairman Karki was a Nepali Congress man and he was considered a successful chairman, who kept things under control. He was also known as a free thinker who got along with most MPs. On top of that, he was a very respected leader within the party as well. So whoever stepped into his shoes, would be a respected person, no matter from which side he came.

However though still the biggest party within the National Assembly, the Nepali Congress does not enjoy a majority and thus it has to have help from other smaller parties if it wants to have a party man once more there in the prestigious post.

But if we are to go by last week’s election, then it seems the Nepali Congress has not been able to win the support of any of the smaller parties, except the insignificant vote of Sadbhavana. NC candidate Basu Risal, who is also the general secretary of the party, was able to get only the votes his own party MPs and the single vote of the Sadbhavana president Gajendra Narayan Singh.

On the other hand Royal nominee Ramesh Nath Pandey, a one time journalist, almost topped off a successful bid to be elected when he received 29 votes, just one short to get him a majority in the 60 member Upper House, where the chairman does not vote on normal circumstances. The acting chairman, Chirinjibee Rijal, who belongs to the Nepali Congress, cast a vote against Pandey when there was a tie. Thus Pandey was defeated by just one vote.

Today, we will deliberate on the performance of MP Pandey, who has always been a controversial man, though a well read and well informed person.

It is a bit of a disappointment for MP Pandey that he did not receive the vote of another Royal nominee Mrs. Sharada Pokhrel, who voted against him on "moral grounds". If she had voted for him, then he would have been elected and the acting Chairman need not have exercised his vote.

It is a fact that MP Pandey has always been considered a shrewd political player, right from the time when he edited a popular vernacular weekly called Naya Sandesh. This weekly was the most popular newspaper in the country at that time, though the upper crust readers considered it a cheap tabloid. Then the editor, Pandey defended the sexy articles and a photograph of a semi nude woman on the back page of the weekly, by saying "This is a paper read by the rickshaw pullers and also by the King".

Pandey, even then maneuvered well enough to be a minister in the Panchayat government and since then he closed down his newspaper and concentrated in politics, though he never contested any popular election. He was always nominated by the Palace, even during the Panchayat days.

Pandey once tried to be close to the Congress also. It must be remembered, as he once was a journalist, he still has links with many media people and he used them to come into the news. So when his name was mentioned in a recently released book by late Bisheswor Prasad Koirala (Jail Journal), he tried to exploit this and seem as if he was a NC man from the old days that he stayed in jail with BP. However many Congress oldtimers, including Girija Prasad Koirala, did not trust Pandey. A close Koirala aide once called Pandey a "con man".

Pandey himself likes to call himself a bridge between the Palace and laet Koirala, but some Congress insiders say he betrayed the trust put on him by BP.

So Pandey happens to be popular only in a small circle of people, including diplomats who believe he is close to the King and a few journalist friends, who he makes it a point to treat very well.

However a plus point on Pandey’s side, is the fact that he is a well read man and he has kept a record of past events, which he constantly recalls to emphasise points. Furthermore, he is well versed in international relations. He probably is one of the few well versed people in this issue and he can speak impressively while talking to a small crowd over a drink.

Perhaps this quality of his has brought him so high up in the political ladder. It is said that many advisors within the Palace, rarely are in touch with reality and they prefer to get feedback from individuals who they feel are their loyal supporters. That such "reporters" can be very misleading, was seen during the popular people’s movement during late 1989 and early 1990. It was widely reported during that turbulent period in Nepalese politics, that Palace secretaries and also the Prime Minister (Marich Man Singh at that time), reported that all was well to the King who was in Pokhara, even when people were getting killed here in Kathmandu.

However considering that he was nominated twice to be a member of the Upper House by the Palace, this quite clearly indicates that Pandey has a strong lobby there. In fact even some people who were considered close to the Palace, were highly critical when Pandey was nominated for the second time to be a member of the Upper House about a month back. "Doesn’t the Palace have any other person besides him?", they questioned. But Pandey not only became nominated, but he shrewdly almost also became the Chairman of the Upper House.

Pandey perhaps came the closest to the highest height he will ever reach not only in his political career, but in his whole life. If he had been elected as Chairman of the Upper House, which he would have been if just one Royal nominee did not rebel, then he would be in that prestigious post for a long six years.

If nothing, the Chairman of the National Assembly receives a lot of publicity and he or she is also in close proximity with both the head of the state and head of the government as well. Foreign tours are also frequent. And Pandey is a man who would have been able to fully exploit this position and situation. In fact at the end of the term he would have most probably come out as a very successful Chairman who would have been close to the King, the prime minister and others with whom he wanted to be close. He most probably then would have been awarded with an ambassadorial or some other post as well. But unfortunately, that was not to be.

Now the race is wide open and only the UML seems to be close on target to have its MP as the Chairman. With the support of smaller parties, there is no reason why this cannot happen. An opposition man in the chair of the Chairman of the National Assembly would mean that the Nepali Congress would not have a majority in the Constitutional Council, which appoints people to some important posts and also makes other decisions that might be helpful to one party or the other at times.

For now, it is not only the personal ambition of Pandey which has fallen down in last week’s election. The hand of the Palace in trying to test the political waters has also been shown. It is certain that the Palace through Pandey wanted a person in a prestigious position. Considerable homework was done for this and perhaps that was the only reason why Pandey was nominated once more to be an Upper House MP. His proximity with the UML, or rather Madhav Nepal was also known.

The rift in the UML, which is now trying to field a candidate , has also been shown. While powerful party general secretary Madhav Nepal seems to be fully on the side of Pandey, another strongman KP Oli seems completely against the decision to back him. Right after the election, Oli had said, "The UML has not taken the responsibility of backing Pandey all the time". His tone clearly indicated that many within the UML were not happy with the decision to vote for Pandey.

It has been reported that even now questions are being raised on how the decision to back Pandey was arrived at. This could cause a rift in the party, unless a UML candidate now wins in another round of election.

Pandey himself, seems to have realised that the golden moment for him has gone. Quite pragmatically, he has publicly said, he will not stand again for election. K.P. Oli in turn had said, "It is immoral for a defeated candidate to stand for election again".

So the field is once again wide open and it is difficult to see any Royal nominee winning instead of Pandey. On the other hand, both the Nepali Congress and the UML have a good chance of putting their men at the top of the National Assembly. It all depends on which side can woo the smaller parties. But for another six years, Pandey will just be another Upper House MP, which should be a rankling thing for a mover like him. Specially when he sees another person, much lesser shrewd than him in the post which he so much covetted.