Off The Record (Spotlight Weekly)

Sermonizing Students

Deuba : I am not alone

Following a weeklong demonstration and agitation by student unions, Prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba finally agreed to accept some of the demands posed by the student leaders. Prime minister Deuba, who was himself a president of Nepal Student Union, a sister organization of Nepali Congress, invited his student leaders to his office to discuss the matter of price hike. When all seven leaders of four political parties started to place their demand, Deuba reminded them about his performance during his student career. For half an hour, prime minister Deuba was busy narrating his days as a student leader. Whether one likes it or not, young student leaders had to listen to the opinions of prime minister Deuba for more than an hour. Finally, Deuba agreed almost all demands of the student unions. Thanks to Deuba's generosity, student will now receive monthly five liters of kerosene in heavily subsidized rate and concession in government hospital.

Poudel : Fighting without cause

Poudel's Ploy

Whenever there is any crisis in the country and his party, Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel takes a new course. Previously, he did not mind to challenge the party leadership but this time he challenged the country's oldest institution monarchy. Although Poudel held the ministerial post several times in the past including the home ministry at the crucial hour of Royal palace killing, he always takes opposite side whenever there is a need for constructive approach to woo the monarchy. It seems that Congress leader Poudel's role is to work to destabilize country's stable institution.

Lucky Break

With the hike in the price of petroleum products, the country seems to be in a chaotic situation as the four agitating parties have already called general strike and burnt a number of tyres disturbing the day to day lives of people. Meanwhile, two important ministers including Home Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka and Supplies Minister Ishwor Pokharel are in a week long foreign trip. For CPN-UML leader Pokharel, this is a well-timed tour as he can get a refreshing break from the growing criticism back home from his party colleagues and leaders of other parties. Home minister Khadka seems to be lucky since he did not have to take any responsibility in case of any big vandalism.

Deuba Vs Nepal

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal engaged in a verbal duel at a program last week. When Nepal accused Deuba of weak knees, the latter reacted that he will show who has weak knees in the forthcoming general elections. Despite the short-lived lip-brawl, the two leaders continue to cohabit the government. For someone new to Nepalese politics, it would be nothing short of a miracle to find two leaders with such diverse opinion sharing the power. There must be something really big going on between the two leaders. Otherwise, how can a party like UML, which used to dump allies and castigate other parties for even a simple policy diversion, continue to share the power with Deuba and his party. Of late, the UML has been making consistent efforts to portray that the lack of peace process is only due to the inefficiency of Deuba. In a separate program Nepal even challenged that he could immediately resolve the problems if he was given the opportunity.

Cold Rush

The winter rainfall triggered snowfall not only in mountainous regions but also in high hills surrounding the Kathmandu Valley this week. For the residents of the valley who despite seeing snow-capped mountains on a daily basis, it was a God-sent opportunity to actually play with the snow. Therefore, braving the bitter cold, hundreds of youths thronged to places like Phulchowki, Nagarkot and Daman. There were traffic jams in the road to Nagarkot due to suddenly increased traffic. The scene was that of a cold, cold rush.