Nov 20, 2010

Politics of Harakiri

With the maximalist position adopted by both the sides the Nepal Congress and the Maoists the stalemate over election of the Prime Minister is likely to continue. This is evident with the current status whence the Nepal Congress candidate Mr Poudel as expected has failed to be voted six times during the month. The conditions of the Nepal Congress for withdrawal of candidature are for the Maoists to fall in line with the cease fire process and declare their firm intent to joint the mainstream by restraining cadres of the Young Communist League and other related issues.  Under the circumstances, the two envisaged options for government formation in Nepal as indicated below may take some time to fructify.

•                     Maoist led national unity government with Prachanda as the Prime Minister.

•                     CPN UML led national unity government supported by the Maoists with the Vice Chairman Bhattarai as the Deputy Prime Minister. CPNUML leadership may be decided by that party.

Meanwhile even as the caretaker government is preparing to come up with Rs 335 billion budget for the current fiscal year, the process of budget is held up as the Maoists have made it a red line and want that the government should be formed before announcing the budget. Blocking the budget and continued farce of election of Prime Minister represents politics of hara-kiri, a long time Nepali legacy.

NOV 2010