The prolonged dispute in the ruling Nepal Communist Party though has become costly for the country reeling under coronavirus pandemic has now turned into a cheap drama for the onlookers, who are not associated with that party.
It has been seven months since the dispute in the party surfaced with a short interval in mid-September when the leaders argued that they succeeded to resolve the intra-party dispute. Of course, the first episode of dispute that had begun with leader Bamdev Gautam’s childish demand to become lawmaker and prime minister ended with the nomination of Bamdev Gautam in the National Assembly in September.
The second episode of the drama began by squashing Gautam’s desire of becoming Deputy Prime Minister through a case filed in the Supreme Court. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli fueled the dispute by reshuffling Cabinet and appointing ambassadors, including Dr Yuba Raj Khatwada, without consulting with the party which was the violation of the agreement reached on September 14. In fact, Bamdev Gautam had agreed to become National Assembly members to prevent Dr Khatiwada’s reappointment in the NA and his continuity as Finance Minister. But when PM Oli rewarded Khatiwada by appointing him to the post of Nepal’s ambassador to the USA, it irked not only Gautam but also the Khumalater and Koteshwor residences.
The drama reached its climax after Dashain with party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leaders holding one meeting after another with an aim of taming PM Oli. But PM Oli opened fire publicly telling that he would not quit and abide by the party instruction. In public speeches and television interviews, he challenged Dahal that the latter was a problem in the party. He even proposed to split the party in consensus after Karnali fiasco. The dispute further deepened when five of the nine Secretariat members held a meeting on Friday and decided to exert pressure on PM Oli to call secretariat meeting. Dahal, Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal, Bamdev Gautam and Narayankaji reached Baluwatar on Saturday to apprise the PM of the decision of the meeting but only tasted his wrath.
In a quick development of the plot, PM Oli invited his critics from the former CPN-UML including Nepal and Bhim Rawal and asked them to help sort out the dispute.
No one knows how the lengthy drama will end, but the cadres of the ruling party are fearing whether the play will culminate in the split of the party in which the former Maoists will severe them from the NCP. However, when the PM, ministers and ruling party leaders are wasting time in the drama, more people are dying of coronavirus in lack of ICUs and ventilators as the government has been applying its full energy in the intra-party dispute.
People’s Review
