Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Friday, February 04, 2011
A Smart Political Move By Prachanda
Image via WikipediaAn all party government in Baburam Bhattarai's leadership was the best option for the peace process and constitution drafting. But this move by Prachanda to prop up Jhalanath Khanal is smart on Prachanda's part. Jhalanath Khanal has had seniority. He was General Secretary of his party when Madan Bhandari was junior to him. The guy obviously has a long tail.
Hopefully now there will be some political stability and the lawmakers will get down to business.
The smart part is that suddenly Prachanda has forced a political bi-polarization in the country. He has formed a left alliance. By default now you are going to have a non left alliance of the Nepali Congress and the three Madhesi parties. Upendra Yadav has decided he is on the left side. He was a communist all his life before he launched his new party. So that move is not surprising.
The calculation Prachanda has in mind is to do with the elections after the new constitution takes shape. He is envisioning a scenario where the Maoists again emerge the largest party, and if it does not get an outright majority it can rely on Jhalanath Khanal for UML's support to make Prachanda a full four year term Prime Minister under the new constitution. That is what this Prachanda move is about. It has been about slamming the Nepali Congress, its primary ideological rival.
This is a smart move on the part of Prachanda. He has killed two birds with one stone. There is going to be no more talk of Baburam Bhattarai or the Nepali Congress for the top political job for a few years.
As long as there is stability after this, the country will also benefit.
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