By Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, April 08, 2023
A day after the 10-party ruling coalition unveiled its common minimum programme signed by its leaders, the Rastriya Jana Morcha, one of the coalition partners, said it does not approve of the government’s programme.
Issuing a press statement, Jana Morcha chair Chitra Bahadur KC not only expressed his party’s displeasure with the coalition’s common programme, but also objected to the ‘unauthorised’ use of his signature on the document.
He said he had given his digital signature to the prime minister but had not given him the permission to use it on the common minimum programme document, with which he disagrees. He said he and his party do not agree with several programmes outlined in the government document.
“Though we supported the prime minister during the floor test, we are not in the ruling coalition. Instead, we are in the opposition and we either support or criticise the government on an issue basis,” KC told the Post.
Yet ruling coalition leaders consider the Rastriya Janamorcha as a partner, even though the party has no representation in the Cabinet.
According to the ruling parties, the 10-party coalition includes—Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led CPN (Maoist Centre), Sher Bahadur Deuba-led Nepali Congress, Upendra Yadav-led Janata Samajbadi Party, Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist), CK Raut-led Janamat Party, Ranjita Shrestha-led Nagarik Unmukti Party, Mahantha Thakur-led Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, Baburam Bhattarai-led Nepal Samajbadi Party, Prabhu Sah-led Aam Janata Party, and Chitra Bahadur KC led Rastriya Janamorcha.
After Dahal embraced the Congress by breaking his partnership with the CPN-UML, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and the Rastriya Swatantra Party, it is still unclear how many parties are in the new ruling coalition. Although the Bhattarai-led party fought last November’s election on the election symbol of the Maoist Centre, the coalition counts Nepal Samajbadi as a separate party and has also given it a ministerial berth.
Far from being a cohesive force, the 10 parties in the ruling alliance are divided over multiple issues.
The differences started mainly on the issue of election of the Vice President, when three parties in the coalition fielded a different candidate against the coalition’s official candidate.
The Janamat Party, the Nagarik Unmukti Party and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party fielded their joint candidate, Mamata Jha, even though the ruling coalition had already picked Janata Samajbadi Party leader Ramsahay Prasad Yadav for the candidacy.
Not only did some coalition member parties differ over the vice-presidential candidate, they have also fielded their own candidates for the April 23 by-election against the official candidates of the ruling coalition.
In Bara-2, JSP chair Upendra Yadav, the coalition’s official candidate, is being challenged by Janamat Party’s Shiva Chandra Prasad Kushwaha, a Maoist Centre leader who defected to the Janamat Party upon learning that his party had decided to support Yadav in the election.
Not only the Janamat Party, another coalition partner, the Nagarik Unmukti Party, has also fielded its own candidates in all three constituencies challenging the official candidates of the coalition.
The party is fielding Kamrullah Ansari in Bara-2, Rajesh Adhikari in Chitwan-2 and Hem Sunar in Tanahun-1.
Ahead of the vice-presidential polls, three parties in the ruling coalition—the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, the Janamat and the Nagarik Unmukti—had announced a working alliance, but that alliance has apparently become defunct.
In the Bara-2 election, among the three parties, the Loktantrik Samajbadi has decided to support Janata Samajbadi chair Yadav instead of the Janamat Party’s candidate.
One of the coalition partners, the Janamat Party, has already started speaking against the ruling coalition following the resignation of its only minister. This was after the prime minister failed to allocate the party the industry ministry. The party is currently out of the Cabinet.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party decided to give a trust vote to Prime Minister Dahal when he sought a vote of confidence for the second time claiming that the new government had agreed to include their campaign promises in the government’s common minimum programme. But soon after the government unveiled the programme document on Friday, the party found its anti-corruption agenda had been removed, and backed away from supporting the document.
“The government has excluded various issues in the common minimum programme and it seems lenient on corruption,” Mukul Dhakal, a spokesperson of the party, told reporters after the meeting on Friday.
The party was dissatisfied after the new coalition excluded the provision to probe past corruption cases and take action against the culprits, although many of the issues they had raised have been incorporated.
“The possibility of our joining the government has ended, at least for now,” said Dhakal. “But we won’t rule out joining the government if there is a change in the coalition or in the current set up.”
While RSP leaders say their party is not in the ruling coalition, they refuse to identify themselves as an opposition and still occupy the ruling benches in Parliament.
The party that managed to nominate its member as Deputy Speaker as part of a power-sharing deal in the previous seven-party coalition, has fielded its own candidates in the by-elections in all three constituencies—Ramesh Kharel in Bara-2, party chair Rabi Lamichhane in Chitwan-2 and Swarnim Wagle in Tanahun-1.
The party’s candidates will go toe to toe with the candidates of the major coalition partners–JSP chair Yadav at Bara-2, Congress candidates Jit Narayan Shrestha at Chitwan-2 and Govinda Bhattarai at Tanahun-1.
However, coalition leaders tried to tone down the inter-coalition rivalry arguing that all competition need not be unhealthy.
“It’s not unusual for the coalition partners to engage in healthy competitions,” said Beduram Bhusal, vice-chair of the CPN (Unified Socialist) who is also a minister. “That won’t affect the activities of the ruling coalition.”
https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2023/04/08/ruling-partners-drifting-apart-on-multiple-issues
