By Our Reporter
The rare Balkot meeting between CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday morning has finally culminated into what was speculated immediately after the news about the meeting between the chiefs of the two big parties broke out.
When Deuba and his spouse reached the Balkot residence of Oli early in the morning on the day of Asar 15 on the pretext of sipping tea, the news immediately chilled down Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s spine.
Dahal, who has earned a bad name for fooling opposition leaders right from the late Girija Prasad Koirala, has managed to stick in power by playing with the two big parties even after the 2022 elections, suspected that the two parties were cooking something against him. He summoned Oli and inquired about the meeting. But Oli told a lie that nothing much was discussed. He also held a marathon meeting with Oli on Monday who as usual, did not leak the decision, and in the evening Dahal called a Cabinet meeting and briefed the ministers that the coalition would last long and the rumours about changing the coalition were baseless.
But Dahal’s hope was dashed the next morning when Deuba and Oli inked an agreement Monday midnight to form a national consensus government under the leadership of Oli. The two parties which had been exercising to form a stable government for a long time also decided to amend the constitution, especially the provisions of the electoral system, blamed to be key for political instability. News about such exercise was published by a daily on June 25. Surprisingly, Oli and Deuba inked Monday’s agreement in the house of the chairman of the particular daily. Interestingly, both Oli and Deuba had kept the meetings secret. While Oli and the general secretary were present from the UML to ink the agreement on Monday, Deuba was with spouse Arzoo and leaders Ramesh Lekhak and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.
If the agreement is applied, the proportional electoral system will be corrected, which will come as a blow to smaller parties including the Maoist Centre. Of course, the electoral system prevents any party from garnering a majority in the House of Representatives.
Now with Monday midnight’s agreement, Dahal is now sure to lose his position. And if the Nepali Congress and UML honestly abide by the agreement, it will end Dahal’s political career because without support from the big parties, his party, the Maoist Centre, cannot win the election.
With the breaking out of the news about the agreement, the three main ruling parties—UML, Maoist Centre and Rastriya Swatantra Party held meetings on Tuesday. While the UML’s secretariat meeting urged Dahal to step down, the Maoist Centre and the RSP said that the two parties inked the agreement fearing corruption charges against their leaders.
However, the Rastriya Prajatnatra Party welcomed their decision to amend the constitution. A meeting of the RPP welcomed the agreement.
After the parliamentary party meeting of the Maoist Centre on Tuesday, Agni Sapkota, spokesperson for the party ruled out the possibility of the formation of a new government while the RSP decided not to be part of the new government of NC and UML. Its president Rabi Lamichhane said that the UML and NC inked the agreement after the government started opening files of corruption.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Lamichhane stated that everyone understands whether they are trying to protect the constitution or certain individuals.
Similarly, Chief Whip of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Santosh Pariyar said that their party would not participate in the new government.
Talking to the reporters after the party secretariat meeting held at Singha Durbar on Tuesday morning, he said that as soon as the process of forming a new government begins, the ministers of RSP would resign from their posts.
There are four ministers from RSP in the current federal government.
After the meeting of the CPN (MC) held in Baluwatar on Tuesday morning, Sapkota said that the agreement between Congress and the UML would cause the country to go backwards.
Sapkota also said that there was a suspicion that matters such as the amendment to the constitution on proportional representation were regressive rather than progressive.
Sapkota also indicated that the recent political developments were influenced by some individuals who did not like the actions taken against corruption.
Meanwhile, Secretary of the Maoist Centre Devendra Poudel said that Prime Minister Prachanda would not resign from the post and would face a vote of confidence.
He also said that if the Prime Minister did not get a vote of confidence, they would be in the opposition and raise their agenda.
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