by DAYA VARMA
Jhalanath Khanal, the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) [CPN-UML] became the new Prime Minister of Nepal after receiving support from the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [UCPNM]. The deal between the leaders of the two communist parties was okayed by Deuba, the leader of the Nepal Congress. Indeed Deuba urged the two parties to settle their disputes and provide formal shape to the government and start drafting the constitution drafting and expediting peace processes.
This is a good development for Nepal. Nepal Maoists have the most seats though not a majority; Nepali Congress is second and CPN-UML third. One would have expected the return of their leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) as the Prime Minister. However, this is neither acceptable to CPN-UML nor to Nepali Congress and other parties including the one representing the predominantly Indian settlers in Terai region of Nepal and more importantly India.
However Prime Minister Khanal seems faced many hurdles as evidence by his difficulties in forming a cabinet. After a week as the Prime Minister he was able to swear in only three ministers from his own party; they are Bharat Mohan Adhikary, brother of Nepal’s first communist Prime Minister Manmohan Adhikary, Bishnu Poudel and Ganga Lal Tuladhar.
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(Thanks to Feroz Mehdi)