Oli’s surprise gift to Prachanda Prime Minister

Kathmandu: Today’s equation of Nepali politics shows that in the game of power equation, whatever decision is taken by the leaders they like. President Bidya Devi Bhandari had given a deadline of 5 pm today to form the government after the new plebiscite.

Although the party leaders agreed to form the government within the deadline given by the President, the behavior was not the same. Formal and informal talks were being held between the ruling partner parties with an agreement to continue the current ruling coalition. There was a lot of confusion about the extent of the agreement reached in these talks. But the game of power equation which started from this afternoon took a new form. However, today ‘Christmas Day’, when the time given by the President to make the Prime Minister is running out, UML President KP Sharma Oli has given the post of Prime Minister as a surprise ‘Christmas gift’ to CPN Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachand’.

Until morning, the center of political talks was the Prime Minister’s residence, Baluwater. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is also the Chairman of the Nepali Congress, was discussing the homework of becoming the Prime Minister. He continued to discuss with the leaders of the power alliance, Chairman of CPN Maoist Center Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Chairman of CPN United Socialist Madhav Kumar Nepal and others, sending messages to himself and his subordinate leaders.

After the election, the leaders of the parties who had agreed to continue the power alliance could not reach an agreement on the power equation. At the first stage, Prachanda maintained that he must be the prime minister. Prachanda did not leave this stance. Instead, they changed the equation of the alliance.

Until morning, Prachanda had been saying that he would form a government under the leadership of Maoists and agree on a package for the remaining posts. If Deuba had thought that he would leave the alliance, Deuba could have given Prachanda the Prime Minister’s gift as a Christmas gift in the morning. But Deuba, who could not withstand the pressure of Nepali Congress leaders, continued to insist on forming a government under his own leadership. Due to this stubbornness, a large party formed by public opinion had to stay in the main opposition party.

As the coalition meeting continued in the morning and until Prachanda came out breaking the alliance, the strength of the power equation was with the Nepali Congress. But when Prachanda left, Ramchandra Paudel, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress, said in desperation, ‘Now we have nothing left in our hands. Prachanda broke the alliance and left.’ The Nepali Congress took this impulse of Prachanda for granted. Deuba called Prachanda who reached Khumaltar for discussion. He signaled to Deuba that Baluwatar would come, he suddenly hit Balkot.

A good khichadi was made in Balkot from noon. Balkot itself created a new power equation. In the morning, RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden reached Balkot and met Oli. Ravi Lamichhane, president of Rashtriya Swatantra Party, reached Balkot soon after Lingden left. While Lamichhane was staying in Balkot, Prachanda reached Balkot with some of his leaders. After a while, Janamat Party President Sike Raut also reached Balkot.

After a long discussion, UML leader Shankar Pokharel said, ‘We have agreed to make Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of CPN Maoist Center, as the prime minister.’ Pokharrel said that since the Nepali Congress could not fulfill its responsibilities according to public opinion, the UML as the second largest party took responsibility and agreed to make Prachanda the Prime Minister with a new equation.

UML Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai said that today’s decision is in accordance with the original spirit of the meeting of UML Central Secretariat on 7th of January. He said that Chairman KP Oli led efficiently. He said, ‘The failure of the majority of those holding the election is a mandate to go to a new option. It should be considered natural in countries with parliamentary democracy.’

Coincidentally, after agreeing to make him the Prime Minister on ‘Christmas Day’, Oli took Prachanda to his house Bardali and greeted everyone present. It was seen here that Oli gave Prachanda the treatment of ‘Christmas Day’. And Prachanda now advanced the issue of forming a communist alliance. How long will this power coalition last? That may be part of the debate, but considering the discussion and homework of the past power equation, the CPN-Maoist Center, which was estimated to be the opposition party, reached the leadership of the government and the Congress, which became the largest party, appeared in the role of the opposition party.

‘The day the President gave for the formation of the government ends. “Even though the Nepali Congress was elected as the first party in the elections, it was unable to form a government for two terms, so the second largest party, UML, had to take that responsibility,” he said. It has been agreed to form a government with the support of more than two parties under the leadership of Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.