Deadlock to End: Street Protests to Start?

by PRAVAT J GURUNG

FROM ISSUE # 166 (October 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE
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So there's been some kind of progress in politics in the past month. The big word this month is CONSENSUS. After a very long dispute amongst the political parties and day long meetings without any decisions, the big three parties - Nepali Congress, UML and Unified CPN (Maoist) - seem to be reaching an agreement. Which means Parliament may finally resume. At the yearly tea party organised by Nepali Congress on the occasion of Dashain, party leaders from the big three met looking at ease. Earlier, the Maoists had been boycotting events attended by the Prime Minister.

Baburam Bhattarai, vice chairperson of the UCPN Maoist, had warned of a revolt after Tihar if the politics of consensus proved to be elusive. But the Sankalpa Prastav drafted by the Nepali Congress and UML at Singha Durbar is now under discussion. If the team fails to reach a consensus, senior leaders will step in to resolve the problem and reach a final decision. UCPN-Maoist maintains so far that the draft has failed to address their grievances. Only time will tell what will happen and what we are yet to see.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala returned home after a two-week visit to the United States, where she attended meetings held as part of the General Assembly of the United Nations. She also had bilateral meetings with a number of foreign counterparts. After being in the spotlight for ditching Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's visit to India, FM Koirala looked content following her trip to the US. During the trip, FM Koirala chaired a conference of the least developed countries (LDCs), and also held negotiations with US businessmen on giving concessions to Nepal's export items. She also confirmed to the media upon arrival that the FMs of first world countries have assured support to Nepal in areas of development and education. All's well that ends well!

In other news, acting president of the Nepali Congress, Sushil Koirala, has announced that he is to vie for the post of party president in the upcoming 12th general convention of the party, to be held on 10 to 14 March, 2010. Koirala also claimed he was contesting for the president's post to eliminate groupism, apart from ensuring institutional decisions, dignity and justice inside the party. Koirala also argued that collective leadership will be developed if a second generation leader gets the leadership after the convention.

Dashain is over and after Tihar, a firecracker show is a sure start. Wait, watch and keep updated with the political happenings of Nepal.

Disclaimer: This column is an update on political happenings and does not represent the views of either the writer or WAVE magazine.