Opinion Missing deadlines

Just one day before the deal,Prachanda had hit out at the dissidents,saying they were hand-in-glove in a conspiracy hatched by external forces to finish him off physically or weaken him politically. He said he was the only one who could save the peace and the constitution-making process,and that his claim to government leadership was both his right and the nation’s necessity. But as that failed to cut any ice,he changed his tactics and focused successfully on retaining the twin posts by delegating responsibilities to senior colleagues. He could gauge the extent of fury building up inside the party against him when the UCPN-M’s official media — Radio Mirmire — blacked out his speech against Baidya and other dissidents on July 23.

On his request,the party’s central committee also decided to have the current set-up of Maoist ministers replaced. Vice Chairman Narayankaji Shrestha Prakash will be the new deputy PM in charge of home affairs,in place of K.B. Mahara. The current council of ministers is a temporary coalition arrangement,with PM Jhalanath Khanal having announced in parliament on May 29 that he would be “resigning instantly” to pave the way for a national unity government. It is argued that a government in such circumstances is simply a caretaker or a lame-duck,and it will be morally and constitutionally unsound for the PM to have new ministers added. Besides,the Maoist proposal to have 12 members — six cabinet rank and six ministers of state,double the existing size — will also lead to more from other coalition partners in the same ratio. That way,Prachanda has been able to deflect the animosity he was facing within the party. A rejection of his proposal by Khanal and other parties will make it a Maoist versus others battle,at least for now.

However,as the largest party,it also faces the people’s anger,as do the other three major parties,for the failure to complete the peace and the constitution-writing process. On July 24,a group of civil society leaders led by Damannath Dhungana,former speaker of parliament,met constituent assembly Chairman Subhash Nembang and asked him to level with the people categorically about the progress made. With the extended August 18 deadline now less than a month away,big political parties have once again begun trading charges against each other,although “completion of the peace process and the delivery of the new constitution” was a common responsibility.

Prachanda is either trying to divert the issue or give the impression that conspirators from his own and other parties,at the instigation of “external forces”,have made things impossible for him.

Nembang gave no categorical response to the civil society leaders. Neither he nor the top leaders of the big parties will be able to respond in a credible manner. But there are clear signs that Maoists and the Nepali Congress will be pitted against each other in the days to come,especially in the wake of the UCPN-M militarising the party. And they are likely to spend the remaining term of the constituent assembly arguing who should be blamed for the deadline being missed again.

yubaraj.ghimire@expressindia.com