Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal sneakily turned up at Nepali Congress President Girja Prasad Koirala’s residence on Wednesday and pledged full support to the octogenarian leader should he want to be the prime minister of Nepal. Kantipur reports:
The Maoists, who have until now been demanding a national unity government under their leadership, proposed the prime ministership to Girija Prasad Koirala. Dahal requested Koirala to throw his support behind him if Koirala did not want the position.
“You can lead the government from your bed,” a source quoted Dahal as saying. “I will be support you fully and firmly.”
According to the source, Koirala said he wanted to think about it.
Apparently, the staff at Koirala residence were not even aware that Dahal would be visiting. Koirala’s daughter, deputy PM Sujata Koirala, notified them about Dahal’s visit minutes before he was due to arrive.
Seems like Maoists have wholeheartedly adopted the principle that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Even though Nepali Congress is in the current coalition government, this move seems to be aimed at overthrowing Madhav Kumar Nepal’s government and assigning his seat to a more friendly face.
Sujata Koirala seems to be leading the backdoor talks. Might dad Koirala turn down Dahal’s offer and nominate his daughter for the post instead?
Dahal is said to have given Koirala 48 hours to mull the proposal over. We will eagerly be waiting to hear what he has to say.
Meanwhile, Nepali Congress Central Working Committee members have warned their leaders not to make any commitments at the High Level Political Mechanism without approving it with the committee first. The Kathmandu Post writes:
In a pre-emptive measure, Nepali Congress Central Working Committee (CWC) members have warned their senior leaders to ensure that any opinion at the High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) from the NC representative gets through only after an official endorsement by the CWC.
The warming comes from a meeting of senior NC leaders at the party headquarters in Sanepa on Tuesday. “The NC CWC has been consistently against any change in the government,” said a senior NC leader adding, “During the meeting, we also demanded that the CWC form an internal mechanism which will make all decision when it comes to selecting the party’s representative on different political appointments, such as the governor, commissioners for different commissions etc.”
We have to remind ourselves that there was considerable opposition against Koirala when he pressured Madhav Kumar Nepal in appointing Sujata Koirala as the deputy prime minister. It is likely that Koirala will face resistance from within the party if he makes a unilateral decision to accept Dahal’s offer or propose his daughter’s name for the post. The opposition within the party seems to have gotten stronger since it stripped the party president most of his power during the Mahasamiti meeting in November.
How happens next?
We might just have to wait and see.
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Isn’t “The Ass” supposed to be your space for silly gossip? I thought “The Brief” was meant for actual current news.
Who does the political analysis to whet these pieces? At least run it by someone with some sense at Nepali Times. Couldn’t you give Mr. Prashant Jha a call?
Also, unbelievable blinders on. You don’t think Congress would be ecstatic to be in power?
‘Sneakily?’ Can Nepali Times editors even pretend to be neutral?
Nuts! Just stick to snarky and suggestive, please. Leave the commentary to people will some objectivity, sense and nuance.
Without making a normative judgement, I want to quote:
“Revolutionary strategies during social revolutions adopt the Dantonian policy of audacity, again audacity, and always audacity, and demoralize the older order by a confusion of counsels and a conflict of ideologies.”- Edward Mead Earle. And that is the Maoist Strategy.
For Dahal and his henchmen Koiaral was too old to be CEREMONIAL president 2 years ago. Now for the same people he has became young to be an EXECUTIVE PM?
Great one, Battisputali! Trust me, our ‘agra-panthi’ totally need this kind of ‘education’. For all their pompous strutting around, they’re actually little more than ‘laato deshko baatho tanneri’. If our ‘agra-panthi’ were half as well-read or ‘intellectual’ as they project themselves to be, we definitely wouldn’t be a pathetic ‘banana republic’ today! They never were, and still aren’t, able to divine Maoist intent and strategy, and just keep yelping out their old worn clichés – like a purohit Bahun ‘japing’ impotent mantras against some intractable ‘dasha’. You look like someone who’s read/reading quite a bit of political science stuff. Keep churning in those quotations, speeches etc. Believe me, these pathetic impostors need it!
Who really believes Prachanda after all his lies exposed during his secret Shaktikhor talks, every Nepali understands his crafty moves, he says something and does something different. This crafty Maoist wolf understands how power hungry is this ailing leader of NCP, CWC has done the right thing by stripping many of his powers. CWC should now initiate to bring up young dynamic and energetic leader to lead Nepali Congress without any bias in caste, creed and family relations. Otherwise it would be hard to subdue Maoist wolves who are now in main stream party in sheep skins!
Wake up Nepal! Wake up Nepal! Rise and Resist against the Crafty wolf Prachanda!