Premier Koirala told to quit or else….

January 31, 2001
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Kathmandu: The newly elected President of the congress, Girija Prasad Koirala, will have to tread a very difficult path to retain his Prime Ministership.

If the plans that have been charted for managing smooth ouster for the incumbent Prime Minister by most of the Opposition parties go the way as desired by Koirala opposition in the parliament then what could be predicted in advance is that the Prime Minister will have to fight tooth and nail to save his chair or else he is gone.

“‘We have just one point agenda now and that being the ouster of Prime Minister Koirala from the seat he is occupying at the moment”, said a UMLite to this scribe over phone Tuesday morning.

Elaborating the need for Koirala’s summary ouster from the Premiership, the same source adds: ” the three point agenda with which Koirala pulled the rug under the feet of his old colleague, K.P.Bhattarai, remains intact. Secondly, Prime Minister Koirala’s deep involvement in the Lauda Air deal has been almost testified. The resignation tendered by minister Tarini Datt Chataut and his subsequent statements made in the PAC interrogation that the choice of the Lauda air was not his personal one but had been a “case duly approved by the cabinet” also conforms the allegation that since the Premier gave his positive nod to the Lauda deal so he must be a party to this scandal. As Prime minister Koirala must resign now at the earliest”.

Koirala’s three point agenda prior to assuming the prestigious seat had been, to recall, providing good governance; maintaining law and order in the country and rooting out the menace of corruption from the country, in which perhaps Koirala has miserably failed.

The nine left parties have explicitly expressed their willingness to support the UML one point agenda and that being the ouster of Koirala from the Chair. The RPP, the NMKP, MASAL and National People’s Front and indeed the Maoists too have supported the UML’s fresh move for the summary ouster of Koirala from the chair of the Premier.

Analyzing the fiery speeches and the languages contained therein made by Opposition leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and his party colleagues, it appears that this round he and his party in collaboration with other opposition parties will move the earth to bring down Koirala from the chair come what may.

To recall, Pradip Nepal, a UML Polit Bureau member has already declared that his party will not allow Prime Minister Koirala to enter the winter session of the parliament until he relinquishes the chair voluntarily.

The chief of the Nepal Peasants Party, Narayan Bijukchhe has said that his party will support the UML move till the end. He however, feared that the UML might retract from its move at a later stage.

To face the impending fierce eventuality during the already summoned winter session, Prime Minister Koirala apparently has been trying to accommodate his “‘ declared dissenters” in the party by rewarding them with either ministerial berths in the next reshuffle and in the congress central committee. In doing so, Koirala assumes that the opposition of the opposition parties in the parliament could be faced bravely and their nasty designs could be foiled summarily.

However, the UML will not settle for less this time evidently. Both the parliament and the streets will be used for Koirala’s ouster. The lay men who definitely have gone against Koirala regime because of mal-performance and mal-governance will naturally support this. Add to this the arch rival-the Maoists-too will indirectly support the UML sponsored “relieve Koirala plan”.

The Maoists too possess perhaps one point agenda, which is very close to the current UML agenda.

The days ahead are definitely not that smooth for Koirala. If things deteriorate against him, a sort of Philippine example can’t be ruled out. However, this all will depend on how effective becomes the opposition against him.

It would be a fun indeed to witness how the opposition could force the sitting elected Prime Minister to quit the chair by force?