Kathmandu: The King is in his long march. He is providing little attention to what is being cooked up against him in Kathmandu by the agitating political parties.

He is being seen by the people. The people are hearing him. This is what he said to Time Magazine and later repeated in Nepalganj speech. The political parties have reasons to be annoyed with King’s fresh overtures. A new political headache for the agitating parties indeed. Neither they can denounce nor appreciate the moves of the King.

The agitating political parties have apparently taken serious note of the King’s ongoing tour to districts and claim that the manner the King is meeting with the people out in the districts does confirm that the monarch will not take a respite until he asserts some crucial powers for himself.

The political conglomerate now against the King vows that they will shatter the very hidden wishes of the monarch and will bring him back to his original role that of a constitutional one. They also claim that if the King denies his prescribed role, the agitation will then center on the demand for a republic.

The politically affiliated students since a month or so have begun favoring a republic.

The Maoist insurgents have reasons to be happy with these sudden developments taking place in the country, which clearly favors their own demand for a republic. This certainly adds up to their strength.

This means that political events that have been unfolding of late, all converge on a common agenda: the republic.

However, the political parties, as a matter of fact, still appear confident that the King will yield to their demands and the ongoing political stalemate come to an end and that sooner or later they would be running the affairs of the State. The assumption is that the King will not yield until he is pressed hard both from the media and the streets. Consensus is among the agitating parties that the King will submit to their demands if they exerted greater pressure on the King seeking, if necessary, even of the support from the Maoist quarters. Their assumption is that if the political parties now in agitation continue to enjoy the support from their own student cadres and which is in turn backed by the Maoists would mean a greater force to which the King can’t afford to dismiss.

However, there is apprehension in certain quarters that if the movement against the King brings in the support of the insurgency and the said agitation is a success, what would be the end result? Will the Maoists settle for less? Will the Maoists allow the agitating parties to rule the roost in such a situation?

Equally true is the assumption that if such a scenario comes into vogue, how the King and the security agencies will take up the ensuing challenge? Will the King finally settle for less? Or will he put the political parties and the Maoists in one basket and proceed in a manner that suits to his political interests at that particular fateful moment?

A frightening imaginary scenario as it is, question could also be asked as to how Nepal’s neighbors would react to Nepali political instability which in one way or the other could destabilize their own security situation. Will such a situation in Nepal be enough to invite foreign intervention? Who knows?

All said and done, the fact is also that the UML, a pillar of the ongoing agitation against the King, still possesses soft corner for the monarchy and admits that the party at least at this stage can’t think of demanding a republic. This means that the UML as a party is in a mood to arrive at a rapprochement with the King supposedly to bounce back to the corridors of power.

What if the UML strikes a secret deal with the monarch? What if Girija is picked up for the executive post?

In both the scenarios, the one which is in power will be taken as a traitor by the rest left in the cold.

However, this is a remote possibility. Neither the King will do so nor the parties will prefer to break their “unity”’.

The King will not do so because he is on record to have appealed the parties to come up with a common agenda so that he can trust them in the task of nation building. The King, hopefully, will keep his promise.

Moreover, the Maoists will definitely feel cheated by the political parties if the latter strikes a deal with the monarch and later form a government that would talk to them. If this happens would mean that the Maoists will have to face a government at the talks which is backed by most of the parliamentary parties. Such a government, if comes into being, will be a united one. Its corollary would be that the government would meet the Maoists with a position of strength.

The Maoists would perhaps wish that there continued a perennial rift in between the political parties and the King so that they can enjoy political benefits by default.

While the parties in Kathmandu are busy in charting plans on how to bend the monarch, the latter is busy in listening to the grievances of the people in the districts.

Like it or not, the King is meeting the people-a people whom their own voters have not met since years and years.

Matured analysts suggest the King to act fast in favor of the people or else visits of such sorts in the past have not yielded, if one were to recall.