By Babbler

Prime Minister Sushila Karki gained prominence after successfully conducting the March 5 elections. However, the decisions taken by her cabinet while she was preparing to leave Baluwatar became controversial. Karki’s cabinet decided to nominate Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal as a member of the National Assembly, and the appointment of Karki’s personal secretary Adarsha Kumar Shrestha as the chief of the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) also sparked controversy.

These two decisions, taken just before leaving Baluwatar, have shown that Karki also belongs to the same group of previous prime ministers who encouraged favoritism, nepotism, and sycophancy.

The Gen-Z movement was against favoritism, nepotism, and sycophancy. It advocated transparency, good governance, and the appointment of officials through fair competition based on the principle of placing the right person in the right position. Karki, who rose to the premiership through the momentum of the Gen-Z movement, appears to have disregarded that very spirit.

It is said that Karki’s association with Shrestha dates back to the time when he was assigned as a computer operator at the Supreme Court. It is also alleged that Shrestha brokered commission deals during the period when Karki served as a Supreme Court chief justice.

RSP’s cocktail leadership

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has now emerged as the strongest political force. Established only a few years ago, the party has grown rapidly and appears close to securing a two-thirds majority. Yet, the ideological foundation of this political force remains unclear.

The party leadership claims that it stands for change. They speak about amending the constitution and ending nepotism, favoritism, sycophancy, as well as commission-taking and corruption.

However, until now, the party appears to have received support from American NGOs and elements of the so-called “deep state,” particularly for strengthening secularism, federalism, and republicanism, as well as for promoting the Strategic Partnership Program (SPP). The Americans believe that nothing comes free of cost. Having supported the RSP politically, they may expect the party to repay the favor.

Nepal is not influenced by a single external actor. Our immediate neighbors—India and China—also play significant roles. How the RSP will balance relations among these three major players remains to be seen.

Moreover, the RSP has become a platform where individuals with diverse and sometimes conflicting ideologies have gathered. Former communists and Congress cadres are now part of the same party. How they will move forward together will become clear in the days ahead.

More importantly, some leaders are already embroiled in various scandals, and the party’s chairman, Rabi Lamichhane, himself faces several court cases related to cooperative fraud and money laundering. Under such circumstances, the question remains: will they truly be able to curb corruption and commission practices?

War in West Asia, hue and cry in Nepal

We are now witnessing long queues of people waiting to obtain half-filled LPG cylinders. Since the war escalated in West Asia, Nepal has been facing a severe crisis, and the economy appears to be under significant strain.

For years, we have been urging the government to work toward making the country self-reliant. However, political leaders have never prioritized reopening industries, promoting local agricultural products, or developing alternative energy sources such as solar power plants.

Instead, the government has preferred to generate revenue through customs duties by importing foreign goods rather than encouraging local entrepreneurs. It has happily collected up to 300 percent taxes on vehicles while failing to encourage the establishment of vehicle-assembling plants in the country.

Similarly, the government has imported mobile phones worth billions of rupees but has never seriously considered supporting domestic entrepreneurs to assemble mobile sets within Nepal.

Furthermore, the state has long depended on remittance income earned by sending Nepali youths to Gulf countries. Yet it has rarely considered investing those foreign currency earnings in productive development projects. Now, our youths are compelled to return from the Gulf countries since the war has prolonged.

If the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is truly committed to making the country self-reliant in electricity, solar energy could be generated from rooftops in urban households by installing solar panels. If the NEA develops a system to purchase electricity from consumers during the daytime and supply it to industries at lower prices, Nepal could become self-sufficient in alternative energy.

Time and again, leadership driven by corruption and short-term interests has deceived the people. What is the government’s crisis management plan, we don’t know.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

The elections of a poor and uneducated country have increasingly been controlled by the hype of social media over the past 5–7 years. Social media itself is under American control. In countries like Nepal, the United States can easily change the election results if it wishes. How was Balen turned into a hero? America can make even an ordinary insect go viral. As mayor, Balen has hardly done anything significant. Nor does he have any exceptional intellect. Remember who might hold the key to the two-thirds majority. Parties like the Nepali Congress need a strong, long-term foundation that cannot be blown away by the storm of social media. That foundation is democracy with constitutional monarchy.

–Rudra Pandey

How was this country preserved? Those who criticize the king should understand what a king means for the country. Why is the monarchy indispensable for this nation? For the sake of becoming a single Member of Parliament or a minister, let us not stop speaking the truth. If the country survives, we can still become ministers and MPs.

— Bhimarjun Acharya

The entry point for foreigners is the airport. The condition of the airport creates the first impression of what the country is like. There are simple things that can easily be improved: immigration officers in formal attire, clean toilets, and taxis that operate on meters in an orderly queue. Let us not even talk about the physical infrastructure of the Kathmandu airport for now!

–Surya Raj Acharya

Donald Trump has started the Iran war in order to suppress the Epstein files.

— Web Kinev, Canadian MP

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The script of Bhadra 23 and 24 (September 8 and 9) was not written by the Nepalis. We talk about geopolitics, but after the election you will see that we may directly move into “air politics.”

— Bhimarjun Acharya

External powers have always had a hand, support, and investment in every political change in Nepal. After the change, when those external forces begin to seek returns on their investment, the original objectives of the political transformation tend to be overshadowed. It is no secret that external forces also had a role in the political change of 2026. Naturally, after this change too, they will seek returns on their interests and investments. Will the upcoming government led by Balen Shah be able to remain free from the pressure and influence of external powers?

—Kamal Thapa

During Pampha Bhusal’s tenure, a bribe of 300,000 rupees per megawatt was reportedly required to sign a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement). But when Rajendra Lingden was the energy minister, he signed PPAs without taking even a single rupee. We should treat Rajendra Lingden almost like a god. Unfortunately, he stayed in the energy ministry for only one or two months. Since he did not engage in corruption, he could not remain in office.

–Amaresh Kumar Singh

Former Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana had publicly said that Om Prakash Aryal began attacking him because Rana refused to appoint Aryal’s wife as a judge. I did not believe it at the time. But yesterday, when I saw the expression on his face as he shamelessly read the news about his own appointment to the National Assembly.

—Birat Aanupam

When we suggested creating a new understanding that could accommodate everyone—from the monarchy to the Maoists—it was not out of any selfish interest. In history, the king, political parties, and all of us may have made mistakes at times. But to even account for those mistakes, Nepal itself must first survive.

—Ananda Adhikari

Netanyahu waited 40 years to find an American president “stupid enough and reckless enough” to start a war with Iran. He exposes the shifting lies and the tragic murder of Iranian schoolgirls.

–Chris Van Hollen, US Senator

Is Sushila Karki our “mother”?Those12 Brothers sponsored and funded by embassies may call her their mother. But we do not accept as our mother someone who served as an unconstitutional prime minister, a figure associated with the Barbara Foundation, and a pawn of imperialists.

— Prem Kaidi

Army kept the ballot boxes but didn’t allow to stay candidates’ agents where the ballot boses were kept. This is how elections were conducted this year. I wonder why parties are afraid to speak on this serious issue. This doesn’t mean to disobey the public mandate. But, this is the question of transparency in the democracy.

–Birat Aanupam

The US economy is a giant Ponzi scheme that depends on Gulf nations investing in American tech.” “If Iran forces the Gulf to abandon the petrodollar for food security, the US economy will COLLAPSE.

— Professor Jiang

ISIS is a Jewish creation and has nothing to do with Islam… Those who joined ISIS are fake Muslims too!

— Former US Marine, Ken O’Keefe

The U.S. asks us for help and wants us to share the cost of their fiascos. Joining Trump’s coalition today is like buying a ticket to dinner and dancing on the Titanic the evening after it hit the iceberg.

–French General Yakovleff

         Excerpted and translated by Sushma Shrestha