The new coalition government in Kathmandu might be made up largely of the discredited old guard, but it has an opportunity to bring the country together through effective government and pushing the peace process. Its members just need to stop bickering amongst themselves.
The 4 May resignation of Pushpa Kamal Dahal ('Prachanda') from the prime-ministership ushered in a period of high spirits in Nepal, even jubilation, among the Nepali Congress, the centrist Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and other political forces in Nepal opposing the Maoists. These parties (the Congress in particular) had entered a period of despondency and demoralisation following their poor showings at the Constituent Assembly elections in April 2008. During the nine months the Maoists were in government, this had developed into a frustrated helplessness bordering on rage. Much of the reason for this was the fact that the Maoists quickly made it clear, through their words and actions, that their interests lay largely in using their newfound position of power to expand their control over society – rather than in continuing with the peace process, which has as its major tasks the drafting of a new constitution and the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants. Meanwhile, however, the other parties had made few efforts towards 'rehabilitating' their own party machineries, or developing a political vision in line with the aspirations of the people. Thus, fear that their very survival was at stake pervaded the old parliamentary parties during much of the Maoist tenure in power.
Dahal's resignation subsequently opened the way for the formation of a new coalition. This is now led by the CPN (UML) and includes the Congress, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) – which, with 53 seats in the Constituent Assembly, is the fourth-largest grouping in the country – and a constellation of 20 other parties. The initial jubilation that the Congress and sections of the UML felt following the resignation was based on the calculation that they finally had the opportunity to bring a halt to the Maoists' aggressive pursuit of their party interests through use of state resources. And that it was now time for the old parliamentary parties to use their positions at the helms of power to solidify their own positions and weaken the Maoists.
Cracks soon began to be seen, however, both within and among the parties of the new coalition. The first casualty was the MJF. Its chairman, Upendra Yadav, despite pressure from other political parties and India, displayed ambivalence towards joining the new governing coalition, and appeared receptive to the Maoist proposal to form a government with them – one that Yadav would lead. Facing immense pressure from other political forces, he finally agreed to 'support' a UML-led government, but was reluctant to join it. Meanwhile, he was vehemently challenged by a fellow MJF leader, Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, who apparently had his own ambitions to become deputy prime minister and gain another lucrative ministerial portfolio. Gachchhadar managed to gain the support of a majority of the MJF's Constituent Assembly members as well as a substantial section of its Central Committee members, thus leaving Yadav in the lurch and the party on the verge of a split.