Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ was dumbfounded on Wednesday night, he even considered resigning.
According to party sources, Prachanda had a deja vu of 2009 when, in Prachanda’s own words, committed a mistake by trying to sack the then controversial army chief Rukmangud Katwal, another figure with big ‘political connections’. Following the episode, it was Prachanda who lost his job, and not Katwal.
Prachanda’s close aides believe that after learning that Maoist lawmakers had signed a proposal to impeach CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki, Prachanda thought this time it was his partymen who had let him down. He was baffled to learn that his confidantes in the party Santu Rai and party chief whip Tekbahadur Basnet signed the dossier without even having a word with him.
On Thursday morning, however, the Prime Minister found out that things were not as bad as he had imagined them to be. He had not lost control over his fellow partymen. “I heaved a sigh of relief after I found out that our friends had not betrayed us. It was the UML who in my absence misused signatures of our MPs to register the impeachment motion,” Prachanda reportedly told his party leaders on Thursday morning.
During the meeting, Maoist leaders are learnt to have demanded action against energy minister Janardan Sharma, who according to them colluded with the UML to misuse Maoist MPs’ signatures. Prachanda told his party members that UML chief KP Oli decided to file the impeachment motion after the CIAA chief refused to launch a corruption investigation against the Maoists, but when Karki did not oblige, Oli started pressing the panic button.
However, the Maoist party should not defend Karki now that public opinion is in favour of the impeachment, he said. He hinted that the party would take action against Minister Sharma for going solo and misusing signatures.
I have always wanted the case to be sorted out by the Supreme Court, he is learnt to have said.
