Kathmandu

Just less than two weeks ago, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ was oozing confidence.

On June 22, he told his party supporters that he had control over the “magical number” to lead the government till the next election. “With magic, anything can be fixed,” he said.

Since his election as Prime Minister for a third time on December 25, 2022, Prachanda, the chairperson of the Nepal Communist Party-Maoist Centre (NCP-MC), has switched sides three times between the Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML). First he left the NC to join hands with the CPN-UML. Then in February last year, he deserted the CPN-UML to form an alliance with the NC. And in March this year, he went back to the CPN-UML.

But what Prachanda said on June 22 did not go well with the CPN-UML chairperson K.P. Sharma Oli, who, as per an agreement reached with Prachanda, was supposed to lead the government after one year.

Meanwhile, NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba, jilted twice by the former guerilla leader, was waiting for an opportune time.

At the stroke of intervening midnight of Monday and Tuesday, Mr. Deuba, 78, and Mr. Oli, 78, signed a deal to oust Prachanda. Though the agreement reached between the NC and the CPN-UML — which have 88 and 79 seats, respectively, in the 275-member House of Representatives — has not been made public, they have said time has come to amend the Constitution and ensure political stability for which the two largest parties in parliament need to form a “national consensus government.”

The CPN-UML on Wednesday evening withdrew its support to the Prachanda government. Both the NC and the CPN-UML have called on Prachanda to resign and “pave the way” for the formation of a new government.

Prachanda, who leads the third largest party in parliament with 32 seats, has maintained that he won’t resign and that he will seek a confidence vote in parliament. As per the constitutional provisions, the Prime Minister has to seek a confidence vote within 30 days from the date a coalition partner withdraws its support. It will be his fifth confidence vote in one and a half years, but this time, he is almost certain to lose.

More than meets the eye

Observers said they were tired of being manipulated by Prachanda, 69, who leads the third largest party in parliament with just 32 seats. and Fuelled by their desire to return to power, Mr. Deuba and Mr. Oli were working on a plan for quite a while to give Prachanda a taste of his own medicine.

“It was known for quite a while that Prachanda’s game would end soon; what was not known was how and when,” said Krishna Khanal, a political scientist. “But the NC and CPN-UML’s claim of constitutional amendments for political stability lacks credibility. It’s only for public consumption.”

Mr. Khanal believes Nepali parties have mixed up government stability with system stability and misled the public by selling the idea of political stability.

“Governments may have changed frequently, but there is stability in the system,” he said.

“And it’s up to the political parties and their leaders to make the system work.”Meanwhile, yet another argument did rounds in Kathmandu about the new alliance. Both the NC and the CPN-UML were said to be in a bid to halt the Prachanda government’s plans to dig out some corruption cases, as they feared some of their influential leaders could be dragged in.

Home Minister Rabi Laimchhane said in parliament on Monday that preparations were under way to form a commission to investigate corruption cases. Leaders in private would not rule out the argument but refused to provide details.

Flaws in constitution?

When the NC, CPN-UML and the NCP-MC, Nepal’s major parties, decided to fast-track the Constitution on September 20, 2015, some sections of the society were protesting, saying the document further marginalised them. Since then two sets of general elections have been held. Nevertheless, the public’s aspirations and basic needs remain unfulfilled even as the country has transitioned from a unitary system of governance to a federal democratic republic.

The NC and the CPN-UML have blamed the electoral system as the main source of political instability in the country.

As per Nepal’s electoral system, 165 members in parliament are elected under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system, and 110 members are elected under the Proportional Representation (PR) system. The PR system guarantees inclusion, as parties are constitutionally bound to nominate women and people from the marginalised groups. Another 550 members are elected to seven provincial Assemblies under the same FPTP and PR systems. With chances of any single party winning a majority being slim, provinces have also become a hotbed of revolving door politics.

“It had become evident that there was a need to tweak the electoral system,” said Govind Raj Pokhrel, an NC leader. “There have been concerns that the current electoral system cannot ensure political stability.”

But a constitutional amendment is easier said than done. It requires two-thirds votes in both the Lower House and the Upper House to pass the amendments. The combined strength of the NC and the CPN-UML is short of a two-third majority. Some small parties with their base in the Madhesh region, along the southern plains, are unlikely to extend support to a move that aims at scrapping the PR system because they have been the chief advocates of the system.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party, the fourth largest force with 21 seats, has made its dislike for provinces clear, but whether it will be part of the agenda of NC and CPN-UML is not clear yet. The Rastriya Prajatantra Party, which has 14 seats, has hinted that it would support the constitutional amendments. But the party is seeking a complete reversal of the Constitution to restore the monarchy and Nepal as a Hindu state.

Mr. Khanal believes, in light of growing concerns, that none of the governments has been able to address public concerns and there may be a need to “review” some constitutional provisions. “But this current constitutional amendment claim is not achievable – neither politically nor mathematically,” he said.

Slippery slope

C. K. Lal, a political analyst, said the very idea of changing the electoral system stems from the CPN-UML’s regressive stance.

“There are three ideas in play – changing the electoral system, reversing federalism and a backward journey to the 1990 Constitution,” said Mr. Lal. “This has been the CPN-UML’s official position.” The NC and the CPN-UML played the leading role in restoration of democracy in Nepal in 1990, and the Constitution that was promulgated then maintained constitutional monarchy.

“The NC so far has been in two minds,” said Mr. Lal. “Therefore, the new alliance’s rallying cry for constitutional amendments is also an attempt to test the waters.”

“And they needed an excuse as well to unseat Prachanda,” he added.

According to the deal, Mr. Oli, a two-time PM, will lead the government for the first half of the remaining three and a half years of the current Assembly, and create ground for constitutional amendments. He will then hand over power to Mr. Deuba, a five-time PM, to oversee the 2027 election. Nevertheless, there have not been any consultations within these parties on the content of the amendments.

Meanwhile, concerns have grown that the two largest parties forming the government could render the parliament Opposition-less.

Mr. Khanal, however, says there has been such a rapid degradation of political culture in Nepal that parliament has, by and large, always been without an effective Opposition.

“The Constitution demands some behaviour and character from political parties,” he said. “With opportunism becoming the new normal, the NC and the CPN-UML have contrived a ruse to conceal their failure, and ensure their return to power by subterfuge.”

(Sanjeev Satgainya is an independent journalist based in Kathmandu)

In a dramatic political development, Nepal’s two largest parties — Nepali Congress and CPN-UML — have inked a midnight power-sharing deal to form a new ‘national consensus government’ to replace the coalition government led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda.”

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman and former prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, reached an understanding on forming a new coalition on Monday midnight, according to former foreign minister Narayan Prakash Saud.

Mr. Deuba, 78 and Mr. Oli, 72, agreed to share the Prime Ministerial position on a rotation basis for the rest of the term of the Parliament, said Mr. Saud, who is also a Nepali Congress central member.

Nepali Congress, the largest party in the House of Representatives (HoR) has 89 seats at present while CPN-UML has 78 seats. The combined strength of the two large parties is 167, which is sufficient for a majority of 138 seats in the 275-member HoR.

The two leaders also met on Saturday to lay the ground for a potential new political alliance between the two parties, following which Mr. Oli’s CPN-UML ended its association with the Prachanda-led government barely four months after extending support to it.

Sharing premiership

Under the agreement that is likely to be finalised on Tuesday, the CPN-UML chief Mr. Oli will lead the government in the first phase of the remaining term of Parliament. The two leaders have agreed to share the premiership for one and a half years, turn by turn, Mr. Saud said.

The two leaders tentatively agreed to form a new government, amend the Constitution, and work out a power-sharing formula, which they reportedly shared with a few confidants, media reports said, quoting multiple senior leaders from both parties.

Nepal has had 13 governments in the last 16 years, indicating the fragile nature of the Himalayan nation’s political system.

The ministers belonging to the CPN-UML in the Prachanda-led Cabinet are likely to resign en-mass in the afternoon, sources close to the CPN-UML said.

CPN-UML secretary Shanker Pokharel has told media persons that an agreement was reached with the Nepali Congress to form a national government led by Mr. Oli, a former prime minister.

The new government will be formed to maintain political stability in the country and make necessary amendments to the Constitution.

Prachanda holds talks

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prachanda is holding talks with CPN-UML chief Mr. Oli to discuss the latest political developments, according to sources close to the CPN-Maoist Centre.

“Prachanda is not going to resign from the post at this moment. Nothing can be said before the talk being held between Prachanda and Oli concludes,” said Ganesh Shah, CPN-Maoist Centre secretary.

According to the agreement reached, during Mr. Oli’s tenure, the CPN-UML will take control of ministries, including the Prime Minister’s position and the Finance Ministry. Similarly, the Nepali Congress will oversee ten ministries, including the Home Ministry, MyRepublica news portal reported.

According to the agreement, the CPN-UML will lead provincial governments in Koshi, Lumbini and Karnali provinces and the Nepali Congress will lead the provincial governments of Bagmati, Gandaki and Sudurpaschim provinces.

Mr. Oli and Mr. Deuba have also agreed to involve Madhes-based parties in leading Madhesh Province and have committed to constitutional amendments.

The draft agreement was prepared by a four-member task force, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

It will detail the power-sharing arrangement, propose amendments to the Constitution, review the electoral system, including proportional representation, change national assembly arrangements, and discuss the size of provincial assemblies, according to a task force member.

Differences

Differences between Mr. Oli and Prime Minister Prachanda had been steadily building, and Oli was unhappy with the recent budget allocations made by the government for the fiscal year 2024-25, which he had publicly spoken about.

Worried by the closed-door meeting between Mr. Deuba and Mr. Oli, Mr. Prachanda had gone to meet Mr. Oli to assure that the government is serious about addressing issues raised by CPN-UML, including its concern about the new budget, observers said.

During their meeting on Monday morning, Mr. Oli reportedly requested Mr. Prachanda to support him by stepping down, the report said.

Mr. Prachanda offered Mr. Oli the post of prime minister within the current ruling coalition, which the latter turned down, expressing his desire to lead a consensus government, a CPN-UML leader was quoted as saying.

Mr. Prachanda, 69, won three votes of confidence in Parliament during his one-and-a-half-year term.

When Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ went for a vote of confidence on January 10, 2023, days after he was elected the Prime Minister of Nepal, 268 parliamentarians of the 270 present in the 275-member parliament had voted in his favour.

On Monday, Prachanda once again sought a vote of confidence, for the fourth time within 18 months as the Prime Minister. He secured 157 votes. While one lawmaker stayed neutral, the rest were absent.

Prachanda may have survived, but in the first and fourth floor tests that he has gone for since assuming office on December 25, 2022, there has been a sharp contrast.

On technical grounds, he has saved his Prime Minister’s post, but it is apparent that the confidence the House had in him has waned, according to analysts. They say that the entire House appeared to have its confidence in the Prime Minister about a year and a half ago.

“The Prime Minister may have won the vote of confidence technically, but there are questions over the political legitimacy of this vote,” said Daman Nath Dhungana, a former House Speaker. “The way the whole proceedings were taken forward raises too many questions, including over the role of the House Speaker.”

On January 10 last year, the Nepali Congress (NC), the single largest party with the 88 seats, had voted in Prachanda’s favour, rendering the House Opposition-less. On Monday, the NC boycotted proceedings after the Prime Minister was allowed by Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire to seek the vote of confidence even as NC lawmakers protested and chanted slogans.

NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak told media later on Monday that the Prime Minister turned the parliament into barracks to take the vote of confidence. Mr. Ghimire failed to maintain the decorum of his post, the NC concluded.

“The Speaker failed to play the role as required by the post. He cannot present himself as a member of a certain party,” said Mr. Lekhak.

Monday’s was the second vote of confidence Prachanda, 69, sought since his decision to break his alliance with the NC in March.

As per the Constitution of Nepal, the Prime Minister is required to take a vote of confidence within 30 days if the party the Prime Minister is representing splits or if a member of the coalition government withdraws support. Mr. Prachanda had to go for the floor test this time because Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal withdrew its support on May 13.

Though Prachanda’s Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) had fought the November 2022 general elections under an alliance with the NC, he was elected the Prime Minister on December 25 that year with the support of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), or CPN (UML), the second largest party in parliament with 78 seats. A dispute between Prachanda and NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba over leading the government had prompted the Maoist leader to join hands with the CPN (UML).

After he backed the NC’s candidate for the presidential post, the UML withdrew its support in February last year, paving the way for the formation of the Maoist-Congress alliance. But after 13 months, in the first week of March, Prachanda in a sudden move ditched the NC to go back to the UML, and he inducted Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which has 21 seats, into the Cabinet. He appointed RSP President Rabi Lamichhane as the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister.

Mr. Lamichhane, however, is embroiled in a controversy with allegations that he had embezzled cooperative funds when he was serving as the managing director of a television company before joining politics.

The NC has been demanding that a parliamentary committee be formed to probe into cooperative fund embezzlement allegations against Mr. Lamichhane. On Monday too, as soon as the House proceedings began, NC parliamentarians rose from their seats in protest. But Mr. Ghimire deployed marshals.

Prachanda, who was marshalled to the podium, described the NC’s protest as a blot in Nepal’s history.

“You committed a huge mistake today. By trying to obstruct the Prime Minister from taking a vote of confidence, you have set a bad example,” said Prachanda, a former rebel leader, hinting at the NC. “You will have to pay a big price for this.”

After the confidence vote, the next meeting of Parliament was announced for Tuesday. The NC, however, has said it would continue to obstruct the proceedings.

Mr. Dhungana, the former House Speaker who also played a crucial role during the peace process after the end of the Maoist war led by Prachanda, said the ruling coalition and the House Speaker made a mockery of the parliamentary system as they failed to offer the slightest of respect to the Opposition.

“How can such a confidence vote be termed a confidence vote when a simple parliamentary process like this has been bulldozed?” said Mr. Dhungana. “It is incumbent upon the Prime Minister to take the Opposition into confidence and upon the Speaker to keep the House in order.”

The NC has concluded that the Prime Minister displayed an autocratic tendency by forcefully going for a vote of confidence on Monday, even as he had ample time to do so.

“As per the constitutional provision, the Prime Minister had 30 days to go for the confidence vote,” said Mr. Lekhak. “When the main Opposition has been demanding a parliamentary probe committee, the Prime Minister and the Speaker should have paid heed to it.”

The rift between the Prime Minister and the main Opposition NC has further widened at a time when the government is preparing to present the annual budget. As per the constitutional provision, the government must table the budget in Parliament on May 28.

Due to NC’s obstructions, the Parliament has not been able to deliberate on the government’s policies and programmes, presented by President Ram Chandra Poudel on May 14. If the NC’s obstruction continues, the government will be left with no option than to bring the budget through an ordinance, as failure to meet the May 28 deadline would mean a violation of the Constitution.

Mr. Dhungana said Prachanda and the coalition led by him have driven the main Opposition into a corner.

“The NC appears to be in a mood to go to any extent till its demand is met,” he said. “The Prime Minister’s failure to make any effort to reach an understanding with the Opposition before going for a confidence vote may cost him dearly.”

The Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N), one of the coalition partners in Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda-led government, has split after a majority of its lawmakers and over two dozen central committee members applied for a new party at the Election Commission of Nepal.

A faction of the JSP-N led by the party’s federal council chair Ashok Rai registered the application for a new party while the party’s chair Deputy Prime Minister Upendra Yadav, who is also Minister for health and population, is on a trip abroad.

Pradip Yadav, a lawmaker of the JSP-N, said that 29 central committee members and seven lawmakers have jointly applied to form a new party. Of the party’s 12 House of Representatives members, seven — Ashok Rai, Sushila Sherstha, Pradip Yadav, Nawal Kishor Sah, Ranju Kumari Jha, Birendra Mahato and Hasina Khan — have supported the new party named ‘Janata Samajbadi Party’ (without the ‘Nepal’ of the mother party).

The Election Commission on May 6 officially recognised the Ashok Rai-led Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) as a new political party.

Party insiders said that Mr. Rai registered the new party at the advice of Prime Minister Prachanda to counter Mr. Yadav, whose relations with the ruling alliance have soured lately. There are reports Mr. Yadav was trying to ally with the Opposition Nepali Congress and the ruling party alliance CPN-Unified Socialist-led by Madhav Kumar Nepal after NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba reportedly offered the Prime Minister’s post to Mr. Yadav to topple the Prachanda-led government.

However, the ruling coalition consisting of the CPN-UML led by K. P. Sharma Oli and the CPN (Maoist Center) has managed to maintain a narrow majority in the Parliament with the latest political developments.

Leaders of the Ashok Rai-led faction claimed they had to revolt against the party leadership as Mr. Yadav was running the party in an autocratic way. “The chair ran the party unilaterally and disrespected lawmakers,” Mr. Pradip said.

Forest and Environment Minister Nawal Kishor Sah Sudi, who also quit the party, claimed that the need for a new outfit was felt after the chair tried to break the ruling coalition.

“We took this decision for the stability of the incumbent government,” Mr. Sudi said. “The party chair (Mr. Yadav) is against this coalition but we will continue to support this government.” “However, the party establishment’s leaders said the party has not split. Just a dissident faction has parted ways,” they claimed.

The split in the JSP-N will not affect the government’s stability at the moment, said Central Member of CPN-Maoist Centre Sunil Kumar Manandhar, who is also the former Minister for Environment amidst speculations that it might affect the coalition government.

“Unless the CPN-Unified Socialist and JSP-N withdraw support from the government there is no need to seek a vote of confidence by the Prachanda government,” Manandhar added. “Lawmakers alone don’t make a party. A majority of party leaders are with us,” said Manish Suman, the party spokesperson.

He added that less than 20% of the 300-strong central committee had left the party. The split follows a long-standing discontent in the party. Only after the pressure from the other faction, had the establishment side been ready to hold its general convention.

Mohammad Istiyak Rai, a leader of the party, had decided to challenge Mr. Yadav, the party chair, in the upcoming general elections. However, the party split before the convention could be held.

Rajendra Shrestha has been named the federal council chair of the yet-to-be-legalised party, which has announced a 31-member central committee. Rai is the chairperson while Renu Yadav has been named the joint chair. The party has four vice-chairpersons, a general secretary, deputy general secretaries and secretaries, among others.

Though the Rai-led faction has sought recognition as a new party under the Political Party Act, there are no clear legal provisions to guide the party formation process after a split in an existing one.

On August 18, 2021, the then Sher Bahadur Deuba government issued an ordinance to amend the Act to ease the split of two parties — the CPN-UML and the Janata Samajbadi Party.

Revising a provision in the Act, which requires the support of 40% of members in the Parliamentary party and the central committee to split the party, the ordinance lowered the bar to 20% in either of the committees.

On August 26 of the same year, Madhav Kumar Nepal of the UML and Mahantha Thakur of the Janata Samajbadi Party registered new parties, the CPN (Unified Socialist) and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, respectively. Two days later, the ordinance was repealed, having served its purpose.

The provisions amended by the ordinance have become void after it was repealed. Though a bill to reactivate those provisions of the Act has been registered in Parliament, it is yet to be endorsed.

“We have received the application (on new party registration),” said Ram Prasad Bhandari, an election commissioner. “A proper decision will be taken after evaluating the existing legal provisions.” Before the split, in the 275-member federal lower house, the ruling coalition had 154 seats — 16 more than the magic number of 138.

Among them, the CPN-UML has 79 seats (including the Speaker and one suspended lawmaker), the CPN (Maoist Centre) has 32, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party has 21, the JSP-N has 12 seats and the CPN (Unified Socialist) has 10 seats. s

Two days after breaking the one-year-old alliance with the Nepali Congress, Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Wednesday formed a new Cabinet by inducting Ministers from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), his new main coalition partner, and two other parties.

In a sudden move, Prachanda on Monday broke up with the Congress and joined hands with former Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli, Chairman of the CPN-UML, with the promise to give a renewed push to the “Leftist movement” in Nepal.

Prachanda, also the Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), inducted eight Ministers from the CPN-UML, five Ministers from his own party, four from the Rastriya Swatantra Party and two from CPN (Unified Socialist) on Wednesday. 

Prachanda and Mr. Oli had a tough time on Tuesday and Wednesday as they struggled to reach a deal on sharing Ministries, just as a jilted Congress was in action to stall the new communist coalition.

With the formation of the new Cabinet with a new set of Ministers, the left alliance is back at the helm in Kathmandu, pushing Congress, the largest force in parliament, to the Opposition seat. 

Bone of contention

Lately, Prachanda had been repeatedly saying that his government had not been able to yield the desired results. Party insiders and political commentators said his remarks, however, stemmed from the notion that Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba was continuously stalling his plan to reshuffle some Ministers. 

“The Prime Minister wanted a free hand in the functioning of the government but he was not getting that. So he was looking for an excuse to ditch the Congress,” said Mumaram Khanal, a writer and political commentator. “This is what often happens when a smaller party leads the government.”

Also, some decisions taken by the General Committee meeting of the Congress party last month had caused discomfort in the Maoist party. Some Congress dissidents had raised questions about alliance politics and had called for not forging alliances with any party in the next elections, which Mr. Deuba agreed to. But more than that, according to observers, a document criticising the Maoist “people’s war” had vexed them the most. 

Mr. Khanal, who in the past was supportive of the Maoist Centre party, said there were some financial interests of Prachanda which were not addressed by Congress Ministers. “But not just that, a host of issues led to the fall of the Maoist-Congress coalition,” added Mr. Khanal.

Prachanda found a good excuse in the impending election of the National Assembly chair. Ignoring an earlier deal with the Congress, the Maoist Centre said it would field its own candidate. The National Assembly chair election is scheduled for March 12. The post is crucial because the chair is a member of the Constitutional Council that recommends members for various constitutional bodies.  

Prachanda has a history of betraying both Mr. Deuba and Mr. Oli.

The CPN-UML and the Maoist Centre had merged in 2018 to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in a bid to form a large Left force in Nepal. However, power struggle between Prachanda and Mr. Oli led to the implosion of the NCP in 2021.  

After facing a gradual electoral decline over the years, the Maoist Centre fought the 2022 general elections under an alliance with Congress. 

After the Congress party’s refusal to let him lead the government in December 2022, Prachanda swiftly sided with Mr. Oli, and was elected Prime Minister with the CPN-UML’s backing . However, in February last year, the UML pulled out of the government after the Maoist Centre decided to support the Congress candidate in the presidential poll. Congress joined Prachanda’s government. A year later, he is back with Mr. Oli again.

“This Maoist-UML alliance has been formed purely out of Prachanda’s personal interest,” said Mr. Khanal. “His one-point agenda is remaining in power, by hook or by crook. He knew his tenure was going to end as per an earlier deal, so he pulled a switcheroo, which he is very good at.”

Prachanda, a former rebel leader who led an armed struggle from 1996 to 2006, until a few weeks ago was vowing to take the Maoist-Congress alliance to the next elections. 

Commentators in Nepal even dub Prachanda the source of instability, given the way he tends to switch sides at the drop of a hat.

On Monday afternoon, while talking about the change in alliance, Prachanda said: “The country will be in turmoil until the day I die.”

The Maoist-Congress relationship had broken beyond repair, according to Minendra Rijal, a Congress leader. 

“I am not surprised as a communist coalition was bound to happen sooner rather than later,” he said. “It was known to all that Prachanda would do all he could to stall handing over power regardless of the deal that had been forged.”

According to an agreement that the Maoists and Congress signed in February last year, Prachanda was supposed to hand pver power to Mr. Deuba after two years. “Prachanda was not willing to do so. Already in his third stint as Prime Minister, Prachanda wants to continue in power as long as he can,” said Mr. Rijal. “Therefore, that he would reach out to Mr. Oli was not a matter of if but when.”   

Renewed bid for Left unity?

Hours after breaking the old alliance, Mr. Prachanda on Monday said that he would relaunch the communist unity efforts immediately.

Observers, however, say a communist unity is a far-fetched idea. 

Though both the Maoists and the CPN-UML call themselves “communists”, they are poles apart ideologically. The CPN-UML has for long been a vocal critic of the Maoists’ “people’s war.” 

Hari Sharma, a writer and political commentator, described the new development as “nothing but some interest groups coming together.”

“Nepali political parties changing partnerships frequently in the name of forging an alliance is rather a dalliance,” said Mr. Sharma. 

A communist unity in Nepal is something Beijing has always wished for, and the new developments may come to its liking. On Tuesday, during a regular press briefing in Beijing, noting the developments in Nepal , Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said, “We would like to work with the new government to advance the China-Nepal strategic partnership of cooperation featuring ever-lasting friendship for development and prosperity”. 

New Delhi has not reacted to the suddenly evolved communist-dominated dispensation in Kathmandu.

That he was a vocal critic of India is a thing of the past and Prachanda cannot afford to ruffle Delhi’s feathers now, , say observers.

(Sanjeev Satgainya is an independent journalist based in Kathmandu)

Kathmandu:

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Sunday said that his country wants to enhance the economic partnership with China for mutual benefits.

“As a close neighbour, it is but natural for Nepal to desire for enhanced economic partnership with China for mutual benefits,” Prachanda said while addressing a meeting with Chinese Business Enterprises in Beijing.

“There are so many enabling factors anchored in close affinity and geographical proximity of both the two countries that need to be utilized to promote mutually beneficial cooperation,” said Prachanda, according to sources at the Prime Minister’s secretariat.

Being close friends and trusted partners, Nepal and China enjoy close, deep-rooted and multifaceted bilateral relations, which are based on the principles of peaceful coexistence, mutual understanding, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, said the prime minister, who is currently on an official visit to China.

Prachanda, who politically distanced from the pro-China Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) headed by KP Oli after becoming Prime Minister in December last year, made his maiden visit to China after visiting India and the US.

“Our relations exemplify how two neighbours of different geographical size, populations and levels of development can be trusted friends and partners. These relations, guided by immense goodwill, mutual respect, shared aspiration and appreciation of each other’s concerns, have ever been growing on many fronts of mutual interest,” he added.

“Nepal is making continued efforts to facilitate trade and find ways particularly to increase its exports to China. This can be done by enhancing Nepal’s productive capacity, improving physical infrastructure and making the quality certification mechanism more robust,” he said.

The export of Nepali products such as tea, herbal medicine, citrus food, buffalo meat, coffee, ginger, and yarn to China has great potential and should, therefore, be prioritized, said Prachanda. “We need to reduce technical barriers and ensure preferential treatment of these products.” On Saturday, Prime Minister Prachanda had one-on-one and delegation-level meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Had a fruitful meeting with Xi Jinping, President of PR China. We exchanged views on a range of issues of bilateral relations and cooperation in our mutual interests. We agreed to collaborate closely and advance Nepal-China relations to strengthen ever-lasting friendship,” Prachanda said in a post on platform X after the meeting.

Prachanda has directly flown to China from New York, where he addressed the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations.

The Prime Minister is accompanied by Foreign Minister N P Saud and other senior officials during his official visit to China. Prachanda will hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang on September 25. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)