Koirala, under pressure from his party to sever ties with the Maoists, wants to stick to the chair on the ground that Prachanda or anyone does not have a two-third majority support. If that fails, he is hell bent upon becoming the president by removing the king officially on the first day the constituent assembly meets later in the month. But the interim constitution does not have the provision of a president as head of state.

Moreover, the Maoists, NC and UML have divergent approaches on the model of the political system that Nepal should follow once the new constitution is adopted. But given his ambition, age and health, Koirala cannot wait. All the parties which are one on removing the king, are unclear about what comes after that.

In the first ever case that the Indian parliament faced of no party having a simple majority following the Janata Party split in 1979, then President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy had simultaneously asked Jagjivan Ram and Charan Singh — belonging to different parties — to explore formation of government. On individual and party-wise verification of support, he ultimately invited Charan Singh to form the government. But Nepal does not have a neutral head of state who could explore such options.

The Maoists, on the other hand, have not approached other political parties for support on the basis of a ‘common agenda’. They are insisting that it is a mandate for their radical policy and way of politics. Their intolerant conduct towards their opponents continues.

... contd.