Off The Record (Spotlight Weekly)

Lucky PM

Although he has many weaknesses, prime minister Sherr Bahadur Deuba is known as a lucky man. Many prime ministers in Nepal had to wait for more than a year to go on a foreign trip and some others even had to quit before they could take a time out to visit overseas. But Deuba has always proved to be 'lucky' in this regard. This time, too, Deuba got an opportunity to take part in the summit meeting of the BIMSTEC in Bangkok, Thailand. Unlike Deuba, former prime minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand is an unlucky person who could not visit any country during all of his three tenures as the chief executive of the country.

Efforts At Wooing

Deputy prime minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari is nowadays busy wooing the party workers. As some of his party comrades have been trying to destabilize the government, Adhikari is now knocking the door of his party's student wing. Adhikari recently declared that he would resign from the post as soon as his party takes a decision to withdraw from the government. Whether one likes it or not, Adhikari, who has just completed his 30 days tenure, seems to be confident that the party - in reality - is in no position to pull out from the government. Even the party workers including the student leaders see this is a good opportunity to complete what they could not accomplish in the previous tenures. As a result, Adhikari is pretty sure that his chair is stable for at least another couple of months.

Oli's Goli (Bullet)

The firebrand leader of the CPN-UML K.P. Sharma Oli has declared that this government will not survive more than another few months hinting at the uneasy relationship among the partners of different political parties. Anger of the former home minister Oli and his colleagues is understandable, as the party's central committee nominated only those members for the cabinet berths who were loyal to the general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal. Whether Oli can rock the government or not is uncertain, but he seems bent on creating problems.

Eighty And Still Going Strong

Although he is nearly eighty years old, the RPP leader and former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa is still active in his political life. He seems to be in no position to give any concession to his enemies who tried to shake his chair during his tenure as the prime minister. Thapa has recently declared that he will pull out the plug on the party president Pashupati Shumsher Rana. In a secret meeting with all his party colleagues and confidants, Thapa is said to have urged his loyalists to take drastic decisions aimed at rocking Rana. Nobody understands what drastic decision he means but it seems certain that the RPP will face bitter internal trouble in the coming days.

Koirala's Stance

Nepali Congress leader Girija Prasad Koirala has recently completed his four-district whirlwind tour. During his meeting with party workers, Koirala, who had led the nationwide political agitation demanding activation of the constitution, seemed to have shifted his stand. Later again, the 80-year-old former prime minister Koirala remembered how many people had poured their blood in the streets of the capital in support of his call. This is good news for Chaya Devi who, along others, was admitted to the hospital after pouring their blood demanding the activation of the Constitution.