“We are a radical party and we will not give up radicalism”, Prachanda declared in an interview given to the government television that’s under Maoist control at the moment. On one single day, the NEPSE (Nepal stock exchange) dipped by 26 per cent causing a huge loss last week soon after the FPTP results came in. Prachanda soon addressed the business community to assure them that the Maoist government would be business and investment friendly. But just 24 hours later, he asserted that there would be no compromise on the party’s radicalism.

As a result, private investors in the health and education sectors are apprehensive, fearing that they will either be taken over by the government, or that there will be an unpractical capping of fees of schools and health services. Influential Maoist leaders have already instructed government schools not to charge any admission fee from students. The instruction the private schools have been given is far more stern. The judiciary also fears the executive’s control.

It may yet take at least five to six weeks for the constitution of the House, paving the way for forming the new government. The G.P. Koirala-headed government is under pressure to quit from his own party colleagues. On the other hand, the two major parties, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), are yet undecided, if not totally reluctant, about joining a future government headed by the Maoists.

K.P. Oli, a powerful UML leader, has insisted that to say that the people have given a mandate to the Maoists is wrong. The parties must now prepare a common agenda or a minimum programme before they form government, he says. This only indicates that after the initial euphoria, Maoists have to scale down their projection as uncontested head of the future government.

... contd.