What Is Gachhedar Thinking?

The guy managed to engineer a vertical split in the MJF flouting all norms of parliamentary democracy. Madhav Nepal could not even have appointed people from his own party into the government before his party decided, but he went ahead and appointed Gachhedar against Gachhedar's party's official stand which at that point was to take part in the government in a way that both Yadav and Gachhedar get powerful ministries.

At best he now has about 25 MPs. And he is asking for five ministries including Home. A

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unified MJF could have got five ministries, Home included. But by now Gachhedar has become a joke. Girija Koirala and Madhav Nepal used him and discarded him.

The party is still not officially split. There still is time. He and Upendra Yadav should meet in person and sort out their differences. But since all the plum portfolios have already been taken by the NC and the UML, the MJF has only one option left: stay outside the government, support it from the outside. Gachhedar now gets to resign because he can't be the only MJF person in the government.

Now is an opportunity to engage in party building activities. If the UML-NC government does not deliver, in a few months it might be time for a Maoist-MJF government with support from many small parties. At that point the MJF can get DPM and Foreign Affairs for Yadav and Home for Gachhedar. Right now is not a good time for the MJF to get into government.

Image by paramendra via Flickr

This is what is going to happen. The NC and the UML are going to drag their feet on two mega issues:

• Security Sector Reform.
• Federalism.

Then the Maoists and the MJF are not going to have any option left except pull them out of power. A Maoist-MJF-TMDP-SP government is going to become possible.

• Maoists 229
  
• MJF 54
  
• TMDP 21
  
• SP 9
• Total 313
  

Gachhedar overplayed his hand. Now he needs to wake up to the reality and start making sense.

Perhaps the TMDP and the SP should also support this government from the outside. It is only a matter of a few short months. They have not been consulted on portfolio division either.

Bhai Phoote Ganwar Loote.

• The Implications Of A Split In The MJF
• Koirala Has To Be Beat At His Own Game
• The MJF Must Stay Intact

• Image by paramendra via Flickr

  Putting The MJF Fire Out
• MJF: Is Reconciliation Possible?
• The MJF Drama
• MJF Will Emerge Stronger
  I Give Madhav Nepal Six Months
  Upendra Yadav Is Going To Lead The MJF In The New Government
  The Army Issue Has To Be Discussed In The Parliament
  MJF: No Harm Done
  Upendra Yadav Should Be Leading The MJF Team In The New Government
  Contents 2009
  Contents 2008
  Contents 2007
  Contents 2006 (2)
  Contents 2006
  Contents 2005
  MJF: Upendra Yadav Is The Leader

Upendra Yadav's Leadership Style: Much Is Lacking

Upendra Yadav must work on his leadership style. He does not consult enough. He should, as the leader of the party, be constantly consulting with all of his MPs and all members of his central committee on all issues big and small. That is on top of holding regular meetings of the parliamentary party and the central committee, and their various committees. And he should stay in daily touch with the top five or 10 leaders in the party. When in person is not possible, he should do it by phone. If he cultivates this style, it will be rare when the party president's viewpoint is different from majority opinion inside the party. He should also consult with the district leaders of his party on a monthly basis. He should invite them over to Kathmandu regularly. He should go visit them in their district offices.

In The News

UML, NC finally settle row over portfolios NepalNews agreement was reached during a meeting between Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and NC president Girija Prasad Koirala Saturday afternoon. ....... UML will get finance, home, defence and communication portfolios while Nepali Congress will hold foreign affairs, water resources, labour, health, law and local development ministries. ...... the two parties are yet to convince other allies on the portfolio distribution.
Gachchhadar predicts trouble for govt Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, has hinted that his party might walk out of the government if it does not get the Home Ministry. ....... "If UML and Nepali Congress want us to continue in the cabinet they must be ready to give us respectable position," Gachchhadar said ....... Gachchhadar took UML and NC to task for not consulting with his party on portfolio division ....... "We will have to think whether to stay in the government if UML and NC want the Madhesi parties to settle for the ministries left by them," he said. ...... We will help the government even if we have to stay outside ....... Gachhadar also insisted that the action taken against him and other central leaders by the MJF establishment was not a legitimate one. He said MJF's

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Parliamentary Party rebelled against chairman Upendra Yadav's autocratic style of running the party.
US sets 'conditions' for removing Maoists from terror watch list if they renounce violence, stop the violent activities of its sister organisation, the Young Communist League (YCL) and actively participate and work together with other parties to support the peace process.
Oli confers with Koirala, RJP chairman before heading off to India Oli, who is one of the main architects of the new coalition, is known to have stressed that army chief Rookmangud Katawal should be allowed to serve full term.
Khanal hopes for a compete cabinet by Sunday the current coalition government will get final shape within the next two days. ..... the party has already forwarded na

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mes from UML to be inducted as ministers in the new cabinet. ..... agreed on sharing six ministries each. ..... Khanal reiterated his party’s claim for Defense, Finance, Home and Information Ministries. ...... he asked members of the Youth Force to retaliate attacks of Young Communist League (YCL)
Gachchhadar demands Home ministry Republica
NC, UML Reach Accord On Portfolio Sharing
UML to keep finance, defense, home, communications: Khanal
Army chief will complete his term: Oli to Koirala
Give full shape to cabinet soon: MPRF to PM
At the Forum Prashant Jha, Nepali Times The Forum saga has all the elements of a Bollywood potboiler: betrayal, anger, violence, money and revenge. ....... For all his self-righteousness and sudden discovery that this is an "anti federalism" alliance, Upendra Yadav has shown remarkable inconsistency. ...... He first sat out the entire army chief controversy by junketing around the globe. Returning a day after Prachanda's resignation, he immediately started aiming to become PM with Maoist support. When the numbers did not add up, he shifted allegiance to the UML-led coalition and signed the common minimum program. And though his heart was not in the arrangement, he wanted to lead the MJF in this set-up. When that did not happen, Yadav sacked Bijay Gachhedar & Co. ........ Gachhedar's aim throughout seemed to be to divide and weaken the party. He unilaterally decided to back the UML-NC combine and bargained a plum portfolio for himself. ....... He threw money around to get MPs on his side. And then using old friends like Khum Bahadur, Gachhedar got the NC patriarch to put pressure on the PM to swear him in without an official party decision. ......... The Forum was never a proper party. Just look at Bijay's far right antecedents and desire to turn the clock back to the 1990s, Upendra's radical left background and commitment to federalism and the inscrutable JP Gupta's shift from social democracy to ethnic separatism inspired by a jail stint and study of Sri Lankan Tamils. On the ground, activists who build the organisation for the Madhesi movement had to co-exist with late entrants who had opposed Madhesi issues through this period. ......... The party had its use when a broader Madhesi identity was sharpest before elections and Yadavs, Tharus and Muslims needed each other. ......... In the last year after his electoral success, Yadav had become intolerably arrogant and felt invincible. He had little time for his MPs and rarely visited the Madhes. Gachhedar, on the other hand, closely wooed parliamentary party members. ......... The NC wants to weaken the Madhesi groups to recover its Tarai base. ....... GPK's personal grudge against Upendra for defeating his daughter in Sunsari and opposing his dream of presidency last year. India was also irritated with Yadav for his intransigence on multiple issues and felt that he needed a lesson. ......... With Gachhedar, NC, UML, India and the army ganged up against him ........ There are now three key actors (Prachanda, Jhalanath Khanal, and Upendra Yadav) who want to see an end to this government. .......... In case a political vacuum does develop, the Maoists or a new force is more likely to benefit from it than traditional parties. ...... When Upendra Yadav was asked last year why he was getting people like Bijay Gachhedar into the MJF even though they had no commitment to Madhes, he replied, " "I need their experience of power politics." Looks like the experience has boomeranged.

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