In depth Analysis

Acharya's challenge to Krishna Prasad serious!

Kathmandu: Whether the finance minister Mahesh Acharya resignation is merely an assertion of his standpoint on the Rastra Bank governor appointee is another matter. What matter is that he has made this assertion at this particular moment with a resignation. Acharya is a reputed Girija camp member of the congress central committee. It is this that his resignation is read to reflect the resumption of the K.P-G.P dispute. If it is so, it will be worth watching the Krishna Prasad reaction.

It is a safe assumption that Acharya will have consulted his party President prior to his resignation. A green signal on his mentor's part will mean that Girija babu is more than willing to spark yet another crisis to pressure his party Prime minister. Rumors are that Acharya's resignation is being tendered on the threat of more such resignations from critical cabinet members. It is revealing that K.P has at time of writing of this report, Monday afternoon, not responded. His response is likely to be equally gravely thought of.

This crisis comes again at time when the senior congress members are alleging that K.P cabinet is being guided by a Kitchen Cabinet and that the Prime minister, who is being portrayed as senile and indecisive, is merely a spokesman of interests he has accumulated in his hard core circle.

Indeed, there is increasing report that decisions made in the Prime ministers' name come with the approval of the group of advisors he has accumulated at Baluatar. Significantly enough, the official media now report the presence of the advisors by name at the gatherings attended by Prime Minister Bhattarai. This assertion is said to be displeasing cabinet members who have opted to support K.P at the displeasure of Girija Prasad Koirala.

It is thus also that Mahesh Acharya's resignation may be read to be a gesture of support from this group of people who threaten to desert K.P in case they do not have their say.

The fact is that K.P cabinet is at best a loose coalition of interests that vacillates between the pro Girija and anti Girija camps. K.P. Bhattarai as Prime minister is a fait accompli accepted on grounds of real politics. If Acharya's resignation is indication of a slide away from K.P, it is indication that K.P is losing grips over his current predominance. This is indication of change in the congress.

On the other hand, significance must be attached to K.P's response to this important development. If he does ride over this challenge he will have emerged stronger.

Resignation episode, beginning of a new crisis in congress

Kathmandu: The stage is set in the congress for yet another fierce show of strength in between the two declared sets of political rivals e.g. the Bhattarai and the Koirala camps.

Although the two political competitors in the congress had only recently agreed for a temporary truce, the fresh resignation of the finance minister and its acceptance by the Prime minister will undoubtedly add the necessary fuel to the fire. To recall, the temporary truce in between President Koirala and the incumbent Prime Minister Bhattarai had been that Bhattarai would smoothly hand over his Premiership to some one preferred by the party well after the conclusion of the winter session of the Lower House.

This verbal agreement apart, however, the Koirala camp in the recent days had very surprisingly stepped up its activities maligning the performances of the government giving all and sundry the impression that Bhattarai's Premiership proved incompetent enough to steer the country and hence a change at the top was the need of the hour.

The outgoing finance minister, Mahesh Acharya, too had become vocal of late in deriding at the lack luster performance of his own party government. Acharya's utterances against the government were taken by non-partisan intellectuals to have spoken the minds of President Koirala simply because the former is a declared man of the latter.

Now that Mahesh Acharya had to quit, the Prime minister is free to install his man in the post of the Rastra Bank governor. The lucky man who created rifts in between the President and the Prime Minister of the party is Dr. Tilak Rawal and is being awarded the post. Dr. Rawal is in fact a close chum of former Prime Minister Deuba. It is talked that Deuba's choice of Rawal is on grounds of regionalism. Both hail from western part of the nation.

Acharya's contention had been that Rawal's performance at the Rastriya Banijya bank had not been that much impressive and hence to appoint such a person as the governor of State bank would be unwise. However, Acharya's theory could not succeed in convincing neither the Prime minister nor a set of his own cabinet colleagues.

Undoubtedly, this episode has exposed the working style of the government. This has also laid bare the fact that how a person preferred by a group of politicians becomes competent even if he were a duffer in the eyes of many and whose past credentials were not up to the mark.

Acharya's resignation episode possesses the potential to bring in about a fresh crisis in the congress camp. How the two competing camps in the congress take up this episode will perhaps determine the future of the party in the days ahead.

Yet another letter from the Royal Palace?

Kathmandu : The septuagenarian leader of the Nepali congress who is also the nation's Prime minister has become the first Premier well after the advent of this new order to have received three letters in series from the constitutional monarch.

If one were to believe the reporting of a communist leaning newspaper, King Birendra sent yet another letter addressed to the Prime minister only a fort night back the copies of which have reportedly been sent to all major political parties.

The third letter addressed to the Prime minister comes from the Royal Palace at a time when the chief of the executive is ailing and needs the support of his personal aides even to walk. This is coupled with the continuing rifts in Bhattarai and Koirala camps. Add to this the fresh resignation tendered by a staunch Koirala loyalist which will time permitting show its effects in the overall functioning of the party and the government as well. Take into account that the Maoists only recently have put forth their conditions for a talk with the government committee currently headed by Deuba. The Maoists have through a statement said that they can go in for a unity with country's political forces other than the ruling congress.

On foreign policy front as well, Nepal has annoyed three countries at a go in the recent weeks. The countries with whom our relations have soured are undoubtedly, India, Pakistan and finally China.

King Birendra's letter, among other things, talks of good governance, accountability and transparency. The letter seeks explanations from the government and the political parties regarding their financial transactions. The letter touches upon the procedures adopted in the appointment of the chief election commissioner; wishes for the adoption of separate code of conducts among the police administration, government administration, and those of the cabinet ministers. The letter also advises for the formation of a high powered committee which would look after all these matters on a timely basis.

More interestingly, the King's letter also has instructed the government to remain vigilant in ensuring free and fair elections at the national and the local levels.

As constitutional monarch, the King has every right to warn and instruct the government of the day. However, the intellectuals fail to understand the purpose of this letter given the fact that as constitutional monarch, He could have told all these points at a regular tête-à-tête with the Prime minister right inside the Palace. As an established tradition, Nepal's Prime minister has to brief the King on a regular basis every week.

Does this mean that the King has become restive?

Unconfirmed reports have it that parties in the opposition have started their home works pertaining to the points raised in the King's letter.

WB's clear interference in Nepal's internal politics!

Kathmandu : The impatient resignation tendered by finance minister Mahesh Acharya has not only jiggled the congress party from within but that this occurrence had its impact apparently felt among some of Nepal's powerful donors' as well has become pretty evident.

The interests exhibited by some donors in even minor incidents occurring in the congress camp is worth intriguing. That some donors' possess even official inclination over some of the key men in the government and the party as well has come to the fore only the other day.

The manner the Kathmandu based World Bank official has reacted to the Acharya's relinquishment from the cabinet only conforms to the allegations forwarded by local intellectuals who maintain that donors' not only squeeze but also dictate their terms and conditions on the developing nations.

The comment of the World Bank official in which he exhibits his clear preference for Acharya is simply dangerous. It is perilous in the sense that why any donor agency should have some sort of special love and regard for a 'personality' rather than the nation?

Cabinet expansion, reshuffle or even the dumping acts of the cabinet members by the Prime minister were the internal matters of a particular government. However, the special interest shown in Acharya by the local World Bank official perhaps amply speaks of the WB's clandestine links with the outgoing minister.

"Acharya's resignation might hamper the Paris Forum/Aid Nepal Group to convene its forthcoming meeting on time and that Nepal might not benefit from this change in the ministry", said one WB official in Kathmandu on behalf of the institution.

Mahesh Acharya or even Dr. Ramsaran Mahat as finance minister makes no difference to the nation. Whosoever is the minister enjoying finance portfolio in Nepal should be left entirely to the country. It should not be the business of the donor agencies more so of the World Bank to forward their comments, positive or negative.

The WB through its fresh comments has also hinted at the fact that any person other than Acharya as finance minister would be unacceptable. It is time that the government penetrates into the matter and asks explanations from the World Bank chief whether he too subscribed to those already aired views or had some thing more to add.

Nationalist-Democratic Front in offing

Kathmandu: A new political force is likely to take shape in the near future. The tentative plan appears to bring closer the political individuals, independent intellectuals and the like minded "nationalists and democrats" who till to date were not aligned to any existing political parties in the nation.

The front is to be named "Nationalists' democratic Front". The chief co-ordinator of this front is talked to be the firebrand ML leader, Chandra Prakash Mainali.

The front might house some university professors and others as well for whom the preservation of the national interests remains supreme.

Personalities like Dr. Harka Gurung, Dr.B.M.Dahal, and Chetendra Jung Himali appear to be behind this front.

The front plans to invite at a later stage former Panchayati stalwarts like former Prime ministers K.N.Bista and Marich Man Singh Srestha.

Whether this front will in effect look after the national interests or will simply be a forum to criticise the dismal performances of the ruling congress will have to be carefully watched.

A section of the congress-affiliated media has already dubbed the formation of this front as a conspiratorial effort to unite all the hard liners of the erstwhile regime against the democrats that is only the congress as per the private definition of the latter.

The disgruntled members of the RPP-Thapa and the RPP-Chand camps also are talked to join this front in due course of time.

Will Devkota join RPP mainstream?

Kathmandu: Serious efforts are on to bring all the former supporters of Lokendra Bahadur Chand belonging to the RPP-Chand party.

Former Prime minister and a RPP stalwart L.B.Chand, who had split from the RPP, mainstream almost one and a half-year ago has joined the RPP-Thapa only recently.

However, Rajeshwar Devkota and Hem Bahadur Malla, the two pillars of the RPP-Chand are yet to join the mainstream.

Devkota has already described Chand's joining the RPP-Thapa group as a leader of his party, read RPP-Chand- joining the other camp on a personal basis. He however, maintains that the RPP-Chand as a party will not vanish with Chand joining the other party.

"The RPP-Chand is very much kicking and alive", says Devkota who is currently heading the party vacated by Chand.

In the meanwhile, sources close to the RPP say that talks with Devkota and his discontented colleagues were heading positively and time permitting all the former colleagues who had contributed in the formation of the RPP mainstream will have a happy home-coming.

Mr.Rabindra Sharma and Pasupati Rana are talked to be in close contacts with Devkota and his colleagues in the RPP-Chand.

Will Bhutan cooperate Nepal this round ?

Kathmandu: Nepal's foreign minister has expressed his hope that the next round of Nepal-Bhutan bilateral talks would permanently solve the decade long pending Bhutanese refugee crisis.

Looking at the total absence of needed gestures from Bhutan regarding the refugee issue, one could safely say that Nepal's foreign minister is mistaken.

If the past eight rounds of Nepal-Bhutan talks were any indication then it could yet again be said that Bhutan is buying time by sending false signals to Nepal that it was ready for talks to iron out the overly stretched imbroglio.

What is the basis for Nepalese enthusiasm as has been expressed by Dr.mahat is simply inexplainable.

That Bhutan is not serious in the refugee issue gets reflected from the fact that His Majesty King Jigme is yet to grant an audience to the freshly released Tek Nath Rizal, the paramount leader of the Bhutanese refugee cause and that of democratic movement in the Dragon Kingdom.( Granting  audience or not to Rizal is a matter solely to be decided by HM the Bhutanese King. No body can press the monarch-editor).

The Nepalese foreign minister perhaps forgets the fact that unless and until neighboring India presses hard the Bhutanese regime, no solution to this issue will emerge.

However, the US administration in the recent weeks has shown interest in this crisis. Added to this positive trend, the Norwegian minister too assured the Nepalese authorities in Kathmandu last week that he would raise the issue of the refugees with the Bhutanese establishment.

This notwithstanding, to assume that Bhutan will simply melt down under pressures from abroad and will facilitate the way for an easy solution to this crisis will be simply an act of day-dreaming on the part of the Nepalese authorities.

The talks that Nepal will have yet another new Foreign minister will perhaps please the other side for obvious reasons.

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