Oli-led Government-1

Oli’s Elevation To Office Of Prime Minister

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

What Mr. Sushil Koirala had committed a mistake on October 10, 2015 was almost the same mistake Girija Prasad Koirala had committed in 2008 that led to the election of Dr Ram Baran Yadav to the first president of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. This time Sushil had clearly indicated his actions were guided by the remote control but Girija did not show such a sign in 2008. This time, Koirala’s party NC had lost everything to the bunch of political parties whereas Girija at that time retained most of the state power.

Sushil could have been a second elected president that was very suitable for him and he deserved to be the next president, too but he did not take it rather went head-on collision with the patriotic political parties. His party NC and other parties that had voted for him on October 10, 2015 at the time of the election to a new prime minister were surely not patriotic parties. The southern neighbor politicians that also had not shown their maturity in dealing with the foreign policies had guided the most unpatriotic political moves in Nepal.

What was hard to figure out what Mr. Koirala and his political associates particularly Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Poudel would have won giving everything to the bunch of other political parties that had been rivals and sometimes even foes. This time, Koirala and his associates were not going to get none of the elected positions including the presidency. What a shady political maneuver must be to lose everything to the coalition of other political parties.

Other political parties particularly the parties associated with the name of Madhesh except for the Gacchedar’s party had also miscalculated voting for the clearly would-be-defeated candidate Koirala for the office of a new prime minister. They wanted to show that they were not patriotic but they could not do anything except for getting what they wanted. This was another defeat for the Madheshi parties in the politics after the devastating defeat in the polls held to elect the current parliament. Would Nepalese trust them anymore in the future? Certainly not, they would need to change the names of their parties if they were to court for the votes from the Nepalese in the future.

Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Poudel had denied themselves the chance of being the next prime minister. Fairly good chances they had if they had gone with the three-party agreement and worked out everything accordingly, they would get the major elected positions including the presidency but now they had lost everything. For what they did so? Probably, they received the good promises from the neighboring politicians, and a few hundred million rupees.

The defeat of the NC leaders and the Madheshi leaders in the elections to a new prime minister on October 10, 2015 was a disaster for Dr. Baburam Bhattarai that had gone almost a half insane, and had been talking irrationally in public. In one of his public speeches, Dr Bhattarai said, “I don’t like to tell you now but you will see after a week what will happen in the Nepalese politics.” Most of the political analysts including me took it as the hint at making Sushil Koirala a prime minister again. Dr. Bhattarai could carry Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his shoulders but he would receive nothing from the Nepalese but ferocious kicks on his back if not at the front.

One of the Madheshi leaders particularly Rajendra Mahato had proudly said that without the blessings of the Indian leaders Nepalese would not be able to run the administration. His Madheshi colleagues quietly accepted it voting for Sushil Koirala at the elections held to elect a new prime minister on October 10, 2015.  Such thinking might be the political catastrophe for those politicians including Sushil Koirala that could have been the second president and reserved his position as one of the shining politicians that presided over the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015 and went on being the president but his actions had adversely affected his political career.

Some of the smartest NC politicians unlike the senior politicians such as Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Poudel came out against Sushil Koirala’s shady political maneuver. For example, Deputy General Secretary of NC Purna Bahadur Khadka came out strongly against Sushil Koirala filing his candidature for a new prime minister. Khadka was for keeping the three-party political bond following the 16-point agreement they had reached but Koirala took a u-turn without consulting his colleagues. Khadka had declared that he was quitting the position of the deputy general secretary of the NC party in protest.

Another young leader Gagan Thapa also came out against the Sushil Koirala’s political maneuver. Thapa went on saying that some kind of the remote control must have inspired Koirala to fight for the office of a new prime minister. The hint was at the Indian politicians, the local news media reported.

One day before the election to a new prime minister, chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachnada proposed the name of KP (Khadka Prasad) Oli for the office of a new prime minister, and chairman of RPP-Nepal Kamal Thapa seconded it. They were jubilant after filing the name of Oli for the candidate for the office of a new prime minister. Their body language indicated that they were in the winning position in the political game.

In 2008 in the similar political game, the winners were the NC, CPN-UML and UDMF but this time the NC and UDMF became losers while rest of the political parties were not only the winners but also they had demonstrated they were patriotic and they were determined to withstand the foreign interferences in the political affairs of the country.

The then political hero Upendra Yadav managed to put two Madheshi leaders in the offices of president and vice president, he himself took the position of the deputy prime minister holding the portfolio of the foreign affairs. The recent political events had unfolded that they must be working at the behest of the southern neighbor to put the then Maoist party out of power. They succeeded in doing so at that time but this time Upendra Yadav and Sushil Koirala themselves exposed that their political strategy had been guided by the southern neighbor. They were out of the coalition governance.

Sushil Koirala had ended his political career but Upendra Yadav had a long way to go in his political life. He had even created a new political party shedding the Madhesh name of his party to be a national leader. That was one hundred percent correct. It was a right decision for him to be a national leader but his greed for power and money had blinded him and could not see the future political events. It might take a long time for him to recover from the political disadvantage caused by supporting the wrong person in the election to a new prime minister on October 10, 2015.

Acting on the instructions of the neighbor for participating in the election and voting for Koirala, and happily accepting the support from the neighbor for the Madheshi movement, the Madheshi leaders had given a great blow to their movement for the just cause. The recently elected government would be more interested in running the administration smoothly and meeting the supplies regularly rather than going to immediately meeting the demands of the Madheshi leaders.

Congratulating Oli on his election to the office of prime minister, and extending an invitation to Oli for visiting India, and committing to resolve the problems, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accepted the delaying supplies trucks was not the right strategy of achieving political goals in the neighboring country at all. Prime Minister Modi had earned nothing from the halting the supplies trucks on the Indian side of the border between Nepal and India but the black spot on his bright political career. His foreign policies toward the neighboring countries had failed, as once the friendly people of Nepal had been turning hostile.

Now let us see who had voted for Oli and Koirala. Oli received 338 votes whereas Koirala only 249 out of the 587 votes in the parliament on October 10, 2015. Surely, Oli had broken the political spine of Koirala. Oli would even shove Koirala in the unknown history. It might even be the political massacre of the Koirala political family.

The following political parties in block voted for Oli:

CPN-UML – 183, UCPN-Maoist – 83, RPP-Nepal – 25, MPRF-D – 14, RPP- 12, CPN-ML – 5, Rastriya Janamorcha – 3, Nepal Pariwar Dal- 2, Rastriya Janamukti Party – 2, one each from Madhesh Samata Party Nepal, Nepa Rastriya Party and CPN-United, according to the news posted on Setopati.net on October 11, 2015. The count of the six votes of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party missed in the reporting of the stopati.net.

Three of Koirala’s party members of parliament showed up belatedly skipping to vote for Mr. Koirala. They were Pradeep Giri, Badri Pandey, and Jeewan Pariyar. They were against the Koirala standing for the office of prime minister again at the behest of the foreign leaders. They said that that went against the party decision.

The local media and the social network had been full of the news about transferring Indian rupees 930 millions to one of the staffs of the Indian embassy in Kathmandu. The money was intended for buying the votes for Koirala in the parliament. Obviously, Koirala could not buy sufficient number of votes for him even with that money. Nobody other than his party parliamentarians and the UDMF parliamentarians voted for him. UDMF needed money to continue the terai movement, no doubt about that.

UDMF should have gone with the Oli parties, as the UCPN-Maoist and the CPN-UML had reached an agreement to meet the demands of the Madheshi people and the ethnic people, too. However, they went to vote for Koirala that had been against the Madheshi people’s demands. If the large amount of money were to attract them then that was a different story. Some people sold even their wives for money.

October 11, 2015