Opinion makers and editors in major Nepali and English broadsheets have discussed impacts of the leftist alliance and various contemporary issues related to upcoming general elections. Articles on other contemporary social and economic issues have also been discussed in the opinion pages today.
Cabinet expansion and Maoists’ opportunism
Suresh Acharya in his lead article for Gorkhapatra defends Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s decision to expand the Cabinet by incorporating leaders from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Whereas Deuba has drawn flak from various quarters for the expansion, Acharya says the PM was forced to induct RPP leaders to save his government from losing the majority support after the CPN-Maoist Centre partnered with the main opposition CPN-UML, which in turn meant that it left the government.
In this context, the PM was free to explore other options to ensure the continuity of government, he claims.
He says the Maoist Centre’s decision to form an alliance with the main opposition is an example of the opportunism the party embraces. “Ruling and opposition sides have their own values and conducts in the parliamentary system. A single party cannot play roles of both governing alliance and the opposition. This is neither a political conduct, nor any value,” he writes.
Why are there multiple obstructions in Kulman Ghising’s anti-load shedding bid?
Bikash Thapa in his article for Annapurna Post explains why and how various traders as well as some section of the Nepal Electricity Authority obstructed NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising’s bid to end load shedding forever. He says Ghising and his team had identified that minimising electricity consumption was the most effective means to control power shortage in the context of Nepal and hence had proposed importing power-saving high-quality LED bulbs from India. But, rumours were spread that Ghising wanted to get a bulky commission out of that deal and the issue was taken to the court, ultimately halting the procedure.
“There is a section which has not liked Kulman’s efforts to end load shedding since the beginning,” he writes, “They spread the rumours that Kulman dried up Kulekhani before it was found that water level in the Kulekhani reservoir was up by one metre. Later, the section introduced propaganda that Kulman increased the power import from India to end load shedding here. Neither was that true.”
His conclusion is that the sole motive behind all these attempts against implementation of Ghising’s vision is the commission they get from the traders after the rise in consumption of other electric products like generators and inverters.
Onsari Gharti’s interview: Leading Parliament tougher than battlefield
Speaker of the recently dissolved Parliament Onosari Gharti has found that leading the House was more difficult than leading a war in the battlefield. She shares in her interview with Kantipur today that running the legislative body was much complicated.
“This way is tough. Ensuring participation of all parties, all sections of society is in fact tough. It is not as easy as walking with a gun on your shoulder,” she says, “I had not thought I would have to bear the responsibility of Speaker… because there were many leaders more senior and more experienced than me in the party.”
“Reaching the leadership position in a communist party is very difficult. Age-wise also, I was not supposed to reach there. So, how could I expect that I would be the Speaker at the age of 38?”
Bimalendra Nidhi for Congress-Maoist alliance till conclusion of peace process
Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi in his interview with The Kathmandu Post says his party and the CPN-Maoist Centre should have remained in the coalition till the conclusion of peace process as these two parties were major actors of Nepal’s peace process and the cooperation between them was a must for its successful completion.
“The only way for Prachanda [Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal] to have issues with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission resolved was to stay in alliance with the NC, not with the UML,” he says, “He said that the leading forces behind the peace process in Nepal are NC and Maoists. All other forces are secondary to them. The idea was since the two political forces were key to starting the peace process, the Maoists and NC had to stick together until the peace process was done with.”
