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

Image by paramendra via Flickr

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

Image by paramendra via Flickr

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.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Unification Of Madhesi Parties (demrepubnepal.blogspot.com)
• Madhesi Movement: Next Phase (demrepubnepal.blogspot.com)
• What Shape Federalism? (demrepubnepal.blogspot.com)

The Implications Of A Split In The MJF

Looks like the MJF has formally split. Gachhedar has gone ahead and registered a new party by the name of MJF-Nepal. I guess he has named the party after the guy who made him Deputy Prime Minister.

What are the implications of this split? What are some of the possibilities?

(1) The Madhav Nepal government lasts six months, and then either there is a new Maoist-led coalition, or a new all party, national consensus government.

(2) One of the two factions withers away. The healthy faction doubles in size.

(3) The momentum and leadership of the Madhesi Movement shifts to TMDP. The Sadbhavana has more room to grow.

(4) The Nepali Congress sees a revival in the Terai.

(5) The new space from the split is taken up by the Maoists who return with a bigger share of paraliamentary seats after the election next year.

(6) The two MJF factions become one again a few weeks later after Yadav and Gachhedar think with cooler heads.

(7) The Madhesi issues are well taken care of, since there is no going back on the political consciousness of the Madhesi people. But there remain many small Madhesi parties.

(8) The Nepali Congress shrinks even further after the election next year.

Right now there is no telling what the implications will be.

If I had to take a guess, I'd say Prachanda will be back in power in about six months or less, and the TMDP will see some major growth. (I Give Madhav Nepal Six Months) But don't count Upendra Yadav out just yet.

I am not worried about the Madhesi agenda. The people have woken up. Any party that wishes to expand in the Terai will have to carry the Madhesi agenda.

Koirala Has To Be Beat At His Own Game

• The MJF Must Stay Intact
• 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

In The News

Trouble deepens in MJF Kantipur Online The meeting endorsed nine proposals including Gachhadar's expulsion as Parliamentary Party (PP) leader. ..... The CC decided to initiate disciplinary action against central leaders Rabindra Thakur, Nasir Siddhiki, Asha Chaturvedi and Sanjay Sah for conspiring to break the party. ....... nominated Krishnadev Yadav, Arjun Thapa, B.P. Yadav, Umeshlal Das and Jagadish Bahadur Singh as CC members. ........ in Kathmandu, the Gachhadar-led faction formed a five-member task force to negotiate with CPN-UML and Nepali Congress on portfolio division. ...... A three-member team was named to take ahead the process of consultation with other Madhesi parties. The meeting also asked all former MJF members who had broken away from the party to return.
Gachhadhar claims being official MJF leader E Kantipur
MPs dispute over Hindi language Republica lawmakers belonging to Madhes-based parties argued that Hindi should be named as official language in the new constitution while the parliamentarians from other political parties strongly protested the proposal........ Muga Lal Yadav of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF) and Gauri Mahato Koiri of Sadbhavana Party (SP), among others, had proposed to name Hindi as one of the official languages of Nepal in the constitution, arguing that people living in the Tarai do not understand Nepali language properly. ......... sharply divided over whether to include the term ´people´s war´ in the new constitution ....... Of the total 32 CA members present at the committee meeting, 19 voted in favor of using the term ´armed conflict´
Gachchhadar claims majority in CC, stakes claim for being official Republica CC members and ex-governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Tilak Rawal who was in neutral category on Monday said he was with the deputy prime minister.
MJF banda paralyses life in Tarai Kantipur Online
MPRF leaders from hilly districts press for unity Republica The party´s presidents from some hilly districts joined the campaign led by Rawal. ....... The party´s presidents from Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha, Mugu and Achham districts signed the statement.
Building a coalition of hope E Kantipur The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum did not have any semblance of adopting party procedures in the way it selected its representatives to the coalition. The name notwithstanding, this coalition is anything but democratic. But the problem is not in the name alone. The current coalition was cobbled together for the expedient purpose of ousting the Maoists rather than for any concrete positive programme. The Maoists' apparent "state capture" was a lame ruse in the whole game. The fact is that the Kathmandu-style politics reminiscent of the coalition era in the 1990s has made an unapologetic comeback. Added to this is the visibly vested interest of top army generals, the Indian and other foreign establishments and the Kathmandu elite in perpetuating the existing state and social structure. Time will show the true picture, but the ongoing wrangling inside all the coalition parties over "plum" portfolios is a clear indication that the parties are hell-bent on perpetuating the politics of loot.
Fight on for party's control in MPRF Republica
MJF for ousting expelled-leaders from CA, govt Kantipur Online
Gachhadar mantra to keep MJF intact E Kantipur Gachhadar said joining the government under his leadership is the only option left for party Chairman Upendra Yadav to rule out a split in the party.

Gachhadar registers new party Himalayan Times
Upendra Yadav is a 'traitor':Beg ... She said the expulsion of seven senior leaders of the party including Bijay Kumar Gachhadar and Sharad Singh Bhandari was motivated by his own vested interests, adding that the split of the party has shattered the dreams of entire Madhesi martyrs. ...... She also revealed that Yadav had been making frequent telephone calls to lure her to his faction, adding that Yadav was crooked and corrupt person. ...... The MJF Parsa chairman Birendra Yadav and district working committee members were present on the occasion.
MJF factions exchange blows Yadav’s faction claimed that of the 35 central working committee members, 29 attended Wednesday's meeting. The meeting went on till late Wednesday evening. ..... Gachhadar wants six berths for his party.
MJF CC meeting in Birgunj Talking to journalists before the meeting, chairman Yadav accused Girija Prasad Koirala, chairman of Nepali Congress (NC) and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal of splitting his party and being agents of India. The party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar and his supporters registered a new party Madheshi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal in the Election Commission on Tuesday. Hence the fourth big party in the Constitution Assembly (CA) was officially divided on Tuesday.
End of Madhesi Forum: Koirala, Nepal are Indian agents, Yadav Telegraphnepal.com The Birgunj meeting began right at 12:00 noon where some 29 CC members were present out of the total 35 CC members. ..... in Kathmandu, the meeting organized by the Gachedhar Faction declared that with the Yadav faction sacking some ten central committee members the party stands formally divided now.

Yadav blames Koirala, Nepal for split Hindu

Nepal: Victim of wrangling in Madhesi Forum Telegraphnepal.com The Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum President Mr. Upendra Yadav, who was all set to lead the MJF delegation in the UML led government, got stunned when the party’s leader of the CA delegation Mr. Bijaya Kumar Gacchedhar unilaterally took the decision that he will lead the MJF and was thus later sworn-in as the deputy prime minister of the country on June 4, 2009....Mr. Yadav categorically blamed the Nepali Congress, UML and Tarai Madhesh Loktantrik Party for creating fissures in the Madhesi Forum camp.

Nepal's Terai-based party moves towards formal split Zee News
Maoists, key Madhesi group enforce shutdown in 30 districts Press Trust of India

Nepal's Maoists 'threaten' to take up arms again Times of India
Sujata elevated as Nepal's Foreign Minister, party feud continues Telegraphnepal.com Keeping the intense inner party feud in the Nepali Congress, the United Marxist Leninists and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum intact ..The MJF has forwarded claims for Five Ministers and four State ministers ..... Upendra Yadav, the MJF party president called it a conspiracy hatched by the UML, NC and Tarai Madhesh Loktantrik Party to bring about a split in the Madhesi Forum. .... Decision in favor of Sujata was made at a time when Sushil Koirala and Ram Chandra Poudel were out of the valley. .... Dr. Rizal is a US Green card holder. ..... Except Sujata- a defeated CA election candidate, majority of the ministers representing the NC are considered as close to the Sher Bahadur Deuba faction ....The UML which is engulfed in inner party feud between the party president Jhala Nath Khanal Faction and senior leader K.P. Oli faction could not sort out the list of leaders to represent the party in the government.

Nepali cabinet expanded with 8 more ministers sworn in People's Daily Online The cabinet expansion has seen dissent among almost all the constituent parties.

Gachchhadar reassures MJF support to govt Nepalnews.com