Kathmandu: Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa will not resign.
This is the message which he preferred to hint the leaders of the agitating coalition parties through his statement made Monday afternoon.
Thaps’s bold reiteration has come at a time when the agitating parties and a sizeable chunk of the Nepali population believed that Thapa will either resign on his own or would be told to do so by the monarch.
However, this appears not forthcoming at least in the coming weeks.
A clever Thapa has interpreted the King’s seven point agenda pushed to the perusal of the political leaders at time of the Royal audience as to have been done so to strengthen the hands of the prime minister.
Whether the King is in a mood to sack Thapa or not is very difficult to predict, however, what is for sure is that if the King does so to sack an unwilling Thapa would mean that Thapa will make every effort to bring the King into political controversy.
If Thapa does not resign then what would be the fate of UML leader, Madhav Nepal, who is now being tipped as the nation’s next prime minister.
Thapa’s statement says that it would be an act of wisdom on the part of the agitating political parties to support him and facilitate the election to the next parliament. Not only this, prime minister Thapa says that his government can assume the form of an all-party government if the political parties supported him.
“This is what the political parties now in agitation have been demanding”, adds Thapa much to the discomfiture of the political parties who are in agitation eyeing the same post currently being enjoyed by Thapa.
The agitating political parties have dismissed prime minister Thapa’s statement and have said that supporting Thapa would mean to back the acts of regression.
Whether the King likes it or not the fact is that students and the leaders have not come to the streets to denounce the Prime Minister but it is the King who is being made the target of the agitation.
Questions are being raised as to what efforts Thapa as nation’s prime minister has done so far to curb the slogans being chanted against the Nepali monarchy?
Is he playing double?
How long the King would feel pleased in providing a new lease of life to an already sinking horse? Thapa’s political significance is now over and that he must be sacked in order to ease the chaotic situation. Let those come to power who can guarantee peace and resume the now stalled talks with the insurgents.