UML favors Koirala; UML supports Deuba

January 19, 2005
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Kathmandu: The leader of the UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, is everywhere and with every one.

He is with the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. He is concurrently with Girija Prasad Koirala.

He favored the price hike in the Petroleum products. He opposed such a price hike and managed his student wing to stage demonstrations against the price hike.

The UML was against the increment in the funding of the Army. The party’s deputy prime minister has done just the contrary to what it advocated in the not so distant past. In doing so the party has amply hinted the Army that it can even increase the strength of its personnel. This goes apparently against India’s internal desire.

The communist leader is a charismatic political personality indeed.

Madhav Nepal is supposed to have assured NC President Girija Prasad Koirala that if he ensured Deuba’s Prime Ministership after the restoration of the House, he would convince Deuba to appeal the King for the revival of the now dissolved parliament.

Koirala had reasons to be happy that better late than never Madhav Nepal saw some points in his house revival theory. However, Koirala is not that fool to get carried away by Madhav Nepal’s mysterious change of stance. That Koirala remains suspect of Mr. Nepal’s recent moves favoring restoration of the parliament got reflected from Koirala’s utterances the other day he made in Ithari, a small town close to Biratnagar, wherein he stated that Madhav Nepal’s fresh overtures were fraudulent moves and thus warranted no attention.

Madhav Nepal and a few of his colleagues reiterate that the party now should go in for the restoration of the parliament and this is what the party’s central committee too has endorsed this idea.

However, contrary to what Madhav Nepal expresses at time of lectures, he clandestinely is supporting Sher Bahadur Deuba’s determination to go to the polls after the Maoists said a straight no to his offer for talks with the government.

Newspaper reports reveal that at a Monday evening high level meeting of the prominent leaders of the present day coalition partners at the Prime Minister’s official residence, Madhav Nepal did not utter a single word against the idea of going to the elections.

The meeting was organized by Deuba to discuss on how to proceed ahead with the idea of the elections. The meeting saw the presence of all the major security organs of the state and it was Madhav Nepal who listened patiently to the statements made by the security chiefs who favored holding of the elections provided they were furnished with the needed resources, means and the weaponries.

Sources close to Baluatar say that Madhav Nepal did not interrupt the proceedings of the meeting even when he was expected to follow his party’s line of avoiding the elections until the Maoists issue got sorted out.

This means that the UML party has allowed its leader to speak double. The one for public consumption and the other for securing its place intact in the coalition government.

Perhaps it was this UML doublespeak that prompted Deuba to declare the other day that he would and could convince the UML leaders easily.

Madhav’s silence at the high-powered meeting does speak that if Deuba declared the elections, the UML, more so Madhav Nepal, would not oppose the elections.

Why Madhav Nepal is talking double then is a logical question indeed.

Looking at Sher Bahadur Deuba’s determination to hold elections, the UML led by Madhav Nepal considers that it would be profitable for the party to fight the elections being in the government. This keeps the UML in the safe side to face the eventuality of the elections.

Similarly, to keep the street parties in good humor, the UML is pretending that the party was with them should Deuba differed with the UML on counts of the elections or for that matter house restoration schemes.

The UML scheme of advocating the restoration of parliament is talked to be a ploy to seek greater political benefits for the party. In its bid to seduce the incumbent Premier Sher Bahadur Deuba, the UML has proposed Deuba that he would be allowed to continue as the nation’s next prime minister if he secured the restoration of the parliament.

The fact is that the UML knows that the talks of revival of the parliament are a wishful thinking only. The UML also is better informed about the position of the King vis-à-vis house restoration. More so, the UML has listened to the new CJ’s expressions with regard to the house revival wherein he has indicated that he would not favor the restoration during his entire tenure.

With all these hints at the background, it is really surprising to learn why the UML is advocating the restoration of the parliament? Is it a newly manufactured policy of the UML to ensure its longevity in the government and assuring the parties in the streets that the UML could surface in the streets should Deuba reject the party’s dictates?

The fact is that with all these dual characters, the party of the communists is getting exposed in the eyes of its own voters and cadres.