By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
It has been widely reported that on Saturday Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba met CPN-UML chairman K.P. Sharma Oli for more than two hours.
Very significantly, Deuba was accompanied by his wife Arzoo, who is reputed to be one of the main decision-makers in the party.
Considering the fact that Deuba is again itching to becoming prime minister, and Oli is desperately attempting to micro-manage state affairs from behind the scenes, speculation is rife that the Dons of the two major Mafia families of Nepal [also known as ‘political parties’] may be putting their heads together to hammer out a new edition of their grand coalition.
Nothing good will come of it.
The main headache(s) for the leadership of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the United Marxists-Leninists (UML) is that they want to avoid scrutiny in various major scams plaguing the country and in which they are allegedly deeply involved.
After all, a day earlier the Nepal Police arrested Bechan Jha, one of the alleged middlemen in the high-profile fake Bhutanese refugee scam, who had until now avoided being booked because of his alleged connection with top political leaders, including from the NC.
However, the NC insists that there is no link between the ‘official’ Oli-Deuba meet and Jha’s arrest. It was just a coincidence, the NC says. Nonetheless, it was a highly suspicious coincidence!
This is also the case, because Oli has his own axe to grind.
He is allegedly involved in a land scam in Eastern Nepal.
Moreover, CPN-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC) chairman, Pushpa Kamal Dahal-Prachanda himself has expressed dissatisfaction with the current ad hoc politics in the country, acknowledging that it is unsustainable.
In a rare case of transparency, Dahal-Prachanda himself admitted that he had been unable to achieve anything significant since the change in coalition except shuffling ministers (TKP/The Kathmandu Post, July 1).
That is, in fact, the naked truth. Dahal-Prachanda’s government is a jumbo coalition of many parties with their own particular interests and those of their leaders.
They do not have the capacity nor the will to achieve anything constructive. They have been stuck in a rut.
The ministers – with some rare exception – suffer from a lack of awareness and are negligent even in basic matters. Consequently, ‘good governance’ is like building castles in the air.
The formation of a grand coalition between the NC and UML would not change the basic parameters of this kleptocratic state.
There had been some hope that the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) would be more dashing and innovative, and be capable of moving mountains.
In line with that, the people of Nepal had also hoped that former King Gyanendra would possibly take on a leadership role to bring the country out of the doldrums.
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com
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