Kathmandu: After a twenty-four hours cessation of the hostilities upon the closure of the eighteenth session of the lower house of parliament, the two warring parties in the congress have once again begun their crusade to tame the other using the diplomatic skills still left under their respective sleeves.
Prime minister Koirala utilized his first minute after the closure of the House in deriding at his vocal detractors in Pokhara and made it point blank clear that he “would neither give up the post of the prime minister nor that of the presidency come what may as both the posts he enjoyed through the election process”.
There is a point in Koirala’s statement, say analysts. However, the other camp which has taken avowal of unseating Girija babu from one of his two current posts say that by today, Wednesday evening, if Koirala summarily rejects their demand of one post, one man, might invite disasters for the latter.
According to a source, some forty two disgruntled congress law makers met Monday evening at Deuba’s office and decided to force Koirala to accept one man, one post theory at Wednesday’s party meeting.
The climax, say members close to Deuba-Bhattarai lobby, could be the submission of a no-confidence motion against the Prime minister at the congress parliamentary party secretariat and the rest of the process of unseating him will automatically follow.
The direct threat to Koirala and his lobby notwithstanding, the Koiralaites appear confident in the numerical strength what they command at the moment and remain assured that the rival camp was only sending false signals to their faction.
Though papers close to Deuba-Bhattarai conglomerate claim that they currently enjoy the strength of sixty plus NC parliamentarians, however, the fact is that it is not true. Had they been blessed with this magic number, their mood would have been different from what now they possess.
“It could be a pressure tactics played by the other camp for drawing excessive benefits from us at time of the cabinet reshuffle and revamping of the party’s present structure”, said a Koiralite in a casual mood.
The fact is that, added the same source, some common signatures could be found in the lists of both the camps which means that a small section of the NC lawmakers have yet to decide which camp to join in.
Be that as it may, the congress atmosphere though surely is disturbing at the moment yet Prime Minister Koirala appears to have made up his mind to contest the congress presidency once more. Congress stalwarts supposedly close to Koirala have started voicing in favor of Koirala presidency at the next party convention.
Prime Minister Koirala’s sudden trip to Pokhara and his confidential tête-à-tête with local congress stalwarts there are a testimony of this “exposed agenda”.
Japanese Premier’s visit here will also not allow Koirala’s detractors to create ugly scenes during the formers’ stay in Kathmandu. “This is an added advantage for us”, opined a beaming Koirala man to this scribe. To recall, Prime Minister Koirala is all set to proceed to attend the UN millennium summit to be held in New York next month. This visit will follow a short trip to Germany if every thing goes as per the schedule.
Summing up, the real strength of Deuba-Bhattarai faction will be tested in a day or two.