After Sri Lanka and Pakistan, now Nepal in crisis: Political turbulence in the neighbouring nation explained

Nepal has been engulfed by a political crisis yet again. Three parties, including the country’s second-largest, have quit Nepal’s coalition government after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ threw his support behind another party’s candidate for president. Meanwhile, a defiant Prachanda on Wednesday said he will face a vote of confidence and reshuffle his Cabinet only after presidential polls. Let’s take a look at the Nepal crisis: What happened? In December, Prachanda took power in Nepal. Prachanda’s Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) won 32 seats in the 275-member House and formed a seven-party coalition government with the Communist Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party and five other smaller groups. The PN-UML, led by former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, is the second-largest party in parliament. Prachanda on Friday announced he would back Ram Chandra Paudel from the Nepali Congress party over the Communist Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party’s Subash Nembang for president in the 9 March polls. As per Hindustan Times, eight political parties including Prachanda’s own CPN-Maoist Centre on Friday agreed to back Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel for president.

The meeting was held at Prachanda’s residence.

Though the president’s post is largely a ceremonial position, it has assumed a key role during past political crises. Though Prachanda did not give a reason for his decision, it is important to note that the Nepali Congress party was earlier an ally of Prachanda’s Maoist Centre party. Ranjit Rae, India’s former Ambassador to Nepal, told The Print Prachanda may have made the decision as he was seemingly concerned that a member of Oli’s party would become president. [caption id=“attachment_12208302” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Ram Chandra Paudel is set to become Nepal’s next president after he was backed by eight political parties.[/caption] “There were apparent anxieties that Oli would control the government and he would become a lame-duck PM,”  Rae added. Resignations en-masse, PN-UML quits coalition On Saturday, deputy prime minister Rajendra Lingden of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) resigned in protest. Lingden, who was also minister for energy, water resources and irrigation, resigned in protest, was joined by the ministers for urban development and legal matters. A junior minister assisting Lingden also quit. “The coalition under which we joined the government is no more intact,” Lingden told Reuters, adding it would not be “proper for them to continue in the government.”

On Monday, the PN-UML announced it was quitting the coalition.

Slamming Prachanda, PN-UML deputy chief Bishnu Rijal said party quit the coalition as his decision went against the December coalition agreement. “A high-level meeting of the party held under the leadership of party chief K P Sharma Oli on Monday decided to quit the government and withdraw the party’s support to the Prachanda-led government,”Rijal, deputy chief of the party’s central publicity committee, told PTI. Rijal further accused Prachanda of ‘betraying’ the PN-UML. By Wednesday, ministers had submitted their resignations in the Prachanda-led government. UML’s vice-chairman Bishnu Prasad Paudel claimed that Prime Minister Prachanda used pressure tactics on the UML ministers to quit the government, which forced them to withdraw support, according to My Republica newspaper. He said Prachanda warned that if the CPN-UML does not leave the government, he would immediately dismiss the ministers or even appoint departmental ministers without them, the report said. He alleged that Prime Minister Dahal demonstrated immaturity by stopping Foreign Minister Paudyal, who was about to visit Geneva, at the eleventh hour. Paudyal, who is from the UML party, was scheduled to fly to Geneva to attend a high-level session of the UN Human Rights Council. However, Prime Minister Prachanda asked her to cancel the visit.

This move by Prachanda riled the Oli-led party even further.

“We have taken this decision because Prime Minister Prachanda did not proceed according to the agreement of 25 December and exerted pressure on us to leave the government,” vice-chairman Paudel said. [caption id=“attachment_11889481” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of KP Sharma Oli[/caption] Meanwhile, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) also quit the coalition. On Monday, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) led by former TV journalist Ravi Lamichhane said it would continue supporting the government. Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, deputy Parliamentary Party leader of RSP, on Monday said the party after a high-level meet decided to back the Prachanda-led government. But by Wednesday RSP had also quit the coalition. Prachanda join hands with Nepali Congress, faces vote of confidence Prachanda has now joined hands with the Nepali Congress and six other parties and wants a new power-sharing deal at the earliest. Prachanda is preparing to reshuffle his Cabinet to fill as many as 16 ministries, which fell vacant after three political parties pulled out of his government, as part of his efforts to keep the newly formed fragile coalition together. Government spokesperson Rekha Sharma said Prachanda will seek a vote of confidence and reshuffle his Cabinet only after the presidential polls on 9 March, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported. “The constitutional and legal provision for the prime minister to seek a vote of confidence will be followed within the given timeframe,” Sharma said at the press meeting. “But we are currently focused on the presidential elections.” With the Election Commission issuing an election code of conduct with effect from Wednesday until March 19, the Cabinet can only be reshuffled after that. As per the constitutional provision, the prime minister needs to seek a vote of confidence within 30 days if a party withdraws its support to the government. Though some leaders had said the coalition could discuss and form a small Cabinet with one or two ministers from partner parties, that now would not be possible due to the election code. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Sharma said the ruling coalition was yet to discuss the issue of Cabinet expansion with the partners of the new coalition. “Cabinet reshuffle will happen only after ascertaining which parties are joining the government,” Sharma told journalists. In the 275-member House, the UML has 79 lawmakers while CPN (Maoist Center) has 32. CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rashtriya Swatantra Party have 10 and 20 members, respectively. Janamat Party has 6 members, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party 4 and Nagarik Unmukti Party 3 members in the parliament. With the three major parties, NC (89), CPN-Maoist Centre (32) and RSP (20), the government has support of at least 141 lawmakers. Prachanda needs 138 votes in parliament to continue as the prime minister. Manjeev Puri, India’s former ambassador to Nepal, told The Print Nepal “is a place where politics of make and break is very normal”. The Election Commission has scheduled the presidential election on March 9 while the election of the Vice President will be held on 17 March. An electorate consisting of 332 voters in the federal parliament and 550 in the provincial assembly will be formed for both elections as per the constitutional provision. Nestled between China and India, Nepal has seen 11 governments since it abolished its 239-year monarchy in 2008 and became a republic.

Political instability has scared investors and held back growth of its $40 billion economy.

Prachanda, the 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre leader, was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the third time on 26 December after he dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader Oli. Prime Minister Prachanda’s party, which contested the 20 November parliamentary and provincial elections as a partner of the five-party alliance led by the Nepali Congress, left the alliance after it refused to give Prachanda any of the two key posts — the president or the prime minister. Prachanda then forged an alliance with CPN-UML led by 71-year-old Oli to form the government. Oli has claimed that while backing Prachanda’s bid for prime minister last year, it was agreed upon that the post of President would go to the member of his party. Paudel also accused Prachanda of not wanting political stability in the country as he was not ready to honour the agreement reached with the party earlier, My Republica report added. On Monday, Prachanda cancelled his Qatar visit given the pressure on him to seek a vote of confidence and the impending elections of the President and the Vice President. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.