Deciphering Bhattarai
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| Bhattarai
: Unpredictable |
The only thing predictable about former
prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai is his unpredictability. This may be the reason
why people find themselves drawing wildly varying conclusions from what he says or does.
Bhattarai’s confidants, too, have developed their own ways of explaining and
expanding on what the leader says. With remarkable consistency, though, they interpret the
former prime minister’s statements in language that best suits their own interests.
Last Wednesday, Bhattarai and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala held discussions on the
current troubles within the party and outside. No one has a faint idea of what Bhattarai
may or may not have said to Koirala, as four Bhattarai associates vied with one another to
explain to reporters what he had said. Dr. Narayan Khadka, the so-called principal adviser
to Bhattarai, said the former prime minister firmly stuck to his demand for Koirala’s
resignation. Former minister and MP Rajendra Kharel, another Bhattarai ally, put on
another spin: Bhattarai urged Koirala to include capable MPs in the cabinet. And we
haven’t even talked about what sources close to Koirala had to say about the
conversation. What actually transpired at the talks? Your guess is as good as ours.
Alliance Of Expediency
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| Nepal
(left) with Koirala : Strange alliances |
Nepal provides a remarkable case study
of the kind of permutations, combinations, alliances and break-ups politicians are capable
of engaging in. Nobody can even try to predict who will turn away from whom to shake hands
with whom. Take the case of former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, who until recently
was regarded as one of the most reactionary and regressive politicians in the lexicon of
the CPN-UML. When Thapa led a Congress-backed government three years ago, the UML even
disrupted parliamentary proceedings to prevent him from speaking. During the 1991
elections, UML workers prevented Thapa from addressing elections rallies in his Dhankuta
constituency. Leaders like Pashupati Sumsher Rana, Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani and Kamal
Thapa, who belong to Thapa’s RPP, are in direct competition with communists in their
constituencies. But for many in the main opposition party today, the former prime
minister, who has had the best of the partyless and multiparty worlds, has come as a
messiah. Multiparty politics has indeed thrown open vast opportunities for profitable
pacts.
Beauties And The Screen
Nepalese are well known for their habit of
copying trends and practices of other countries. At a time when almost all world beauties
of India have entered their country’s film industry, how could our own pretty women
be far behind? After Jharna Bajracharya and Poonam Ghimire, Rubi Rana has plunged into the
world of films. Die-hard movie buffs are looking in one direction. What kind of waves
would the third beauty title-holder make in the industry, especially when the first two
have left little more than a few ripples. |
