By Our Reporter
Changing government leadership or the coalition ruling partners has been the order of the day in Nepal thanks to political instability and lack of political culture among leaders.
Now again the country is going to get a new government under the leadership of KP Sharma Oli of the CPN (UML). The change looks dramatic as the UML joined the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the CPN (Maoist Centre) only on March 5 this year. But four months after joining the Dahal-led government, the CPN-UML and the Nepali Congress decided to forge a new alliance in the name of maintaining political stability in the country. The eight UML ministers have already resigned and the UML has urged Prime Minister Dahal to step down. The UML also quit the Bagmati government and the UML ministers tendered their resignation on Monday. With the change of guard in the centre, the province government will also be changed. Interestingly, the latest news about the NC-UML alliance, which came as a big shock for Prime Minister Dahal, occurred when the Dahal-led coalition had just completed its mission of changing the provincial governments. The Dahal-led government had managed to topple the Madhes government led by Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal and formed a new government under Janamat Party’s Satish Kumar Singh on June 7 but the Dahal-led coalition lost the majority in the centre before Singh took a vote of confidence. Instead, Singh won the vote of confidence on July 6 by removing the ministers appointed from the Maoist Centre.
If all goes as planned Prime Minister Dahal will quit the position on Friday after failing to win the vote of confidence in the parliament.
Appointed to the post of Prime Minister on December 25, 2022, Dahal had already taken a vote of confidence for the fourth time, and he changed his coalition partners thrice in 15 months and is likely to lose the key position in 19 months.
Dahal was appointed PM in the support of the UML on December 25, 2022, but he ended the coalition with the UML in three months on March 23, 2023, and formed a new alliance with the Nepali Congress. But again he ended the coalition with the NC in 11 months and joined hands with the UML. But four months after shifting the coalition by deceiving the Nepali Congress, Dahal has lost the PM’s position, and probably he may never return to power considering the diminishing popularity of his party. Interestingly, Dahal’s party had contested the election of 2022 by forging an electoral alliance with the Nepali Congress and managed to win 32 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives. But immediately after the election, he deceived NC and formed the government by allying with the UML, which he ended again in three months. Dahal had fought the 2017 polls by allying with the UML.
Dahal who had earned a bad name for deceiving one leader after another right from the time of the first election to the President in 2008 has finally been cornered after the two big parties deceived by him stood together.
Dahal is the third Prime Minister elected after the general election of 2017 held following the promulgation of the government. KP Oli who was elected immediately after 2017 poll was replaced by NC’s Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2021 after a verdict of the Supreme Court. Now again Oli is going to be the new PM, the fourth in seven years. Likewise, the country is going to get eighth prime minister after the 2013 election to the Constituent Assembly which promulgated the constitution in 2015. The Sushil Koirala-led government that promulgated the constitution was replaced by KP Oli, who was again replaced by Dahal in 2016. Dahal was replaced by Sher Bahadur Deuba, who held the general election in 2017 in which the UML-Maoist alliance won majority seats and Oli became the Prime Minister. However, a division in the CPN, which was formed by unifying the UML and the Maoist Centre, paved the way for Deuba to become the PM for the fifth time.
Login to add a comment