Kathmandu: She is unbending. She is one of the most vocal among the crowds of many in the Nepali congress political paraphernalia led by Shri Girija Prasad Koirala.

She happens to be one of the closest relatives of President Koirala but yet at times sharply differs with her own nephew. She has also paid the price for her differences with president Koirala either on core and ethical political matters or purely administrative matters.

She was sacked, to recall, by her nephew Prime Minister Koirala long time back when she right being a member of the Koirala cabinet “revealed” that the ministry she was heading was a total mess and that only corruption prevailed in the ministry from tip to toe.

She is Ms. Shailja Acharya—the former vice chairman of the party and a deputy Prime Minister.

Not surprising therefore that she denounces the involvement of her party in the ongoing agitation on accounts of according to her were as follows: firstly, the congress by engaging itself in the current agitation of the big-5 has become a tail to the communists; secondly; that there had been no need of any sort of agitation against the King when the monarch has already vested the executive powers on the Thapa cabinet; thirdly; that the agitation launched by the big-5 were shadowing the countless issues confronting the nation that warranted immediate solutions from a consensus of all the political forces of the nation; fourthly; that the party should not make any hurried decisions on matters that have grave political bearing in the country but instead decisions should be arrived at by studying its wider implications in the given fragile politics of the nation; fifthly; what the neutral observers would say of an agitation which has lost already its meaning and content and the likes.

A close analysis of Shailaja’s expressions does reveal that she differs with her party’s decisions very sharply to the extent that she prefers to call the ongoing agitation as meaningless. What is also clear from her statement is that Shailaja appears confident that since the executive powers had already come to the cabinet, there remained no need to pressurize the King further. She also appears not happy with her party’s becoming a political tail of the communists in the ongoing agitation.

” How can a party that has always taken a middle line supporting constitutional monarchy could afford to remain associated with political parties who day in day our advocate republican slogans”, bursts Shailaja.

In an expression of warning to her fellow party stalwarts, she bluntly says that if the agitation continues for long meaninglessly and the country remains embroiled in a host of problems as it stands today, Nepal would soon be dubbed as a Failed State.

A courageous Shailaja then challenges those who prefer a sort of disciplinary action against her for her anti-agitation remarks that she has been making of late by saying that “there is none to challenge my authority in the party save the party president.

This means that Shailaja is experiencing threats from her own party activists for her off-the-cuff remarks which the party stalwarts interpret as “anti-party” rhetoric and demand stern actions against her.

The other personality who is supporting her views is Speaker Tara Nath Ranabhat is also in the list of those to be penalized for their anti-party statements.

Sources in the congress say that president Koirala is in a fix. Firstly, he doesn’t want to lose a dedicated congress personality of Shailaja’s stature by penalising her for her “erratic” utterances; secondly, he also thinks of the relation that binds them; thirdly; president Koirala poses that he would abide by the voices of the majority in the party which unfortunately or fortunately is against Shailaja. And most importantly, president Koirala is a man who can’t bypass the decisions of his half-brother Sushil Koirala who is said to be a bete noir of Shailaja.

However, some in the congress party also hint that president Koirala wishes the expulsion of Ms. Shailaja Acharya to be replaced by his own daughter-Sujata Jost (Koirala), a German national in effect.

Koirala could be playing double but yet the president will have to think twice when it comes to penalise Ms. Acharya. Nevertheless, Koirala would very much like to see his daughter at the helm of affairs of the congress party. After all, South Asia has maintained this tradition since long. Blood is thicker than water!

What is interesting to note here is that Ms. Acharya for the first time has disclosed that her party in the beginning had kept soft corner for Chand’s government and in the same vein she assumes that many a congress stalwarts appear to have olive branch for Prime Minister Thapa and his government.

All put together, what comes to the fore is that if there is already a rift in and among the congress party members on how to view the Thapa government. By the same token, what is also clear is that time permitting the party led by Girija prasad with have given birth to personalities like Shailaja and Ranabhat who would clearly differ with the party’s decision on so many counts.

Does this mean that the agitation will fizzle out? Will Koirala back out from the agitation if Shailaja’s dictum prevailed in the majority of the party? Does this mean that some time later Girija congress will join the cabinet? Will the congress men accept Thapa as their prime minister? Should this also mean that Shailaja possesses kind heart for the monarch?

Is she the next Prime Minister under the same Article 127 should Thapa fail and the agitation continues unabated?

Is that possible? The intellectuals are invited to ponder over this possibility even if it were a remote one.