Prachanda's Offer To Yadav, Then To Koirala

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MJF: That Other Winner Of The April 2008 Election

I don't blame him, he is being shrewd. He made the offer first to Upendra Yadav, today he has gone on to make the same offer to Koirala. Become PM, we Maoists will support you. He was feeling like all the non-Maoist forces were ganging up on him. This is his attempt to get out of that ditch. He has a sharp strategic mind, sure does.

Koirala asks Dahal to cooperate in govt formation efforts NepalNews Dahal, who is vehemently opposed to UML leadership for the next government, suggested Koirala to take initiatives for a national government. "He [Koirala] played important role in signing the 12-point agreement. We asked him to take initiative for new consensus in the same spirit," Dahal told reporters after the meeting held at Koirala's Maharajgunj residence. Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, who was present at the meeting, said his party was ready to be part of the new government if it's formed on the basis of national consensus. "But no consensus can evolve by projecting a person or a party [as the leader of new government]," he said, indicating that the Maoist party is not ready to support UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal as the Prime Minister.

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MJF stakes claim on govt leadership

An all party government under Prachanda's leadership is not unimaginable, or an all party government under Madhav Nepal's leadership for that matter, or under Upendra Yadav's leadership for that matter, or under Koirala's leadership all over again.

As the leader of the largest party, Prachanda can rightfully claim he deserves it. Formation of a new national consensus government might be less problematic than agreeing on how to govern in the aftermath.

I say form an all party steering committee. For all the major decisions hold full fledged debates and discussions in the parliament. Seek consensus in cabinet decisions.

A national consensus all party government might be the best option. As to who leads is a secondary question.

The Maoists are not too keen on another communist. The TMDP and the SP are not too keen on the Upendra Yadav name. It is the psychology of the powerless.

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MJF: That Other Winner Of The April 2008 Election

Image via Wikipedia

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There were two primary victors to the April 2008 election. One, the Maoists. Two, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum. The Maoists ruled for a year. Now it is the MJF's turn.

MJF stakes claim on govt leadership NepalNews

The TMDP and the SP have to now join the MJF bandwagon.

In the early 1990s, Girija Koirala chose to bring down his own party's clear majority government, and split his Nepali Congress party, and decided to take the country to premature midterm elections and went on to sow the seeds of a civil war rather than step down and let a Madhesi Mahendra Narayan Nidhi become Prime Minister.

Both Prachanda and Girija are Bahun, but I get the impression Prachanda is less prejudiced against Madhesis than Girija. Both Bahun also happen to be Teraiwasi. Girija is from Biratnagar, and Prachanda is from Chitwan.

A MJF-TMDP-SP coalition with outside support from the Maoists: that is all it will take to form a government at this juncture. It is called parliamentary arithmetic.

I also want Katuwal to vacate the scene at the earliest. I also want the eight Brigadier Generals retired as soon as possible. Recruiting 3,000 fresh soldiers into the Nepal Army was the peace time Dhoramba. That was a move designed to scuttle the peace process.

The Nepali Congress and the UML were the two biggest losers of the April 2008 election. It would make no sense for them to come into power at this juncture.

I was hoping the Maoist-UML-MJF-SP government would last its full term. But it did not quite work out that way. But I am still for political stability. I am for a directly elected president. We can't have a new government every year.

And if the Maoists play a constructive role in the constitution writing process, there is no reason why they should not do well for the election scheduled for next year.

They have proven they can be a party in power. Now let them prove for a year they can also be a party in the paliament, but not in power.

The Maoists are more enlightened than the Nepali Congress and the UML on federalism. A MJF-TMDP-SP-Maoist alliance will be most needed when it is time to make the final decisions on federalism. This government formation is dress rehearsal.

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