PM strains to give cabinet full shape

KATHMANDU,March 8: A month after he entered Baluwatar, Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal on Friday added four more ministers to his cabinet, but he is finding it diffcult to give it full shape.

Though Prime Minister Khanal today sent a letter to the Office of the President assigning UML leader Bishnu Poudel to the Defense Ministry, Paudel has sought a formal party decision to change an earlier decision and appoint him home minister instead.

At the UML´s Standing Committee meeting held today, Paudel, along with other party leaders close to the Madhav Nepal and K P Oli faction, demanded that the party take a fromal decision if Prime Minister Khanal wants to keep the home ministry for himself for the "time being".


The Standing Committee failed to take any decision as Oli and Nepal were absent from the meeting. Nepal is currently in Japan while Oli is out of Kathmandu.

UML Secretary Yubaraj Gyawali told Republica that Prime Minister Khanal informed the Standing Committee that he was keeping the home ministry for himself as per the understanding reached with the Maoist party. "But no formal decision was taken since two top leaders were absent at the meeting," he said.

Both Prime Minister Khanal and UCPN(Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal are greatly hamstrung by internal feuding in their respective parties and they are weakened by continued confusion about which party should eventually head the home ministry.

On Friday, the Maoist Standing Committee, after much intra-party wrangling over the sharing of ministerial posts among the three different factions, decided to give Dev Gurung charge of the home ministry when the party gets to lead that portfolio.

The Maoist chairman told the party´ Standing Committee that the prime minister has promised to give them the home ministry once there is progress in integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants and after a common minimum program, reflecting the spirit of the so-called seven-point agreement, is agreed.

But the prime minister is not in a position to give the Maoists charge of the home ministry until the integration process makes headway and shows "clear signs of completion".

"The Maoists will get the home ministry once the political parties are convinced that the integration process will be completed without delay," says the prime minister´s press advisor, Surya Thapa.

The Baidya faction is already demanding that the party pull out of the government if the prime minister doesn´t give the Maoists the home ministry within a month. "All the ministers would be called back if the agreement is not implemented within a month," said Maoist leader Narayan Sharma, who is close to Baidya.

But there is little chance of the peace process moving forward as envisioned by Dahal and Khanal.

Any decision on the integration process should be unanimously approved by the Special Committee that comprises members from the Nepali Congress (NC) and Madhes-based parties as well.

In all likelihood, the peace process is unlikely to make any headway in a month and that will only further strain the UML-Maoist coalition.

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