With the election of Sher Bahadur Deuba as the eighth president of Nepali Congress the rumor mills in Kathmandu are churning again. Indications are that he will waste no time in working towards a national unity government under his leadership. Congress leaders close to Deuba have, following his victory as party president, wasted no time in branding the KP Oli government as 'incompetent' and 'unnatural'. We too are not against a unity government per se. In fact, it would be wonderful if all important political forces in the country can come together in a government of national unity, at least until the next general election. It does not matter whether Deuba or Oli leads it. Such a government, especially one that includes the agitating Madheshi parties, would be of immense help in timely implementation of the new constitution. But in his hurry to become the prime minister, the new NC President should be mindful not to alienate CPN-UML, the country's second biggest political force whose cooperation will be crucial in any new settlement with the Madheshis over the contents of the new constitution.But what is also true is that the Madheshi parties that have been agitating against the 'discriminatory' constitution for past seven months most certainly place more trust on Deuba and Congress than they do on Oli and his UML party. This is because Oli, as the leader of a largely Pahad-centric party, has in recent times tried to please his core constituency through his strident criticism of Madheshi parties. Deuba, by contrast, is now leader of a party with a big constituency in Madhesh. Even within the party, Deuba relies heavily on deep sympathizers of the Madheshi cause like Pradeep Giri and Bimlendra Nidhi. So there will be greater pressure on Deuba to heed the Madheshi parties. This pressure will multiply manifold if he becomes the prime minister. The way we see it, there is no reason Deuba needs to be the prime minister to accommodate Madheshi parties. As the leader of Nepali Congress, the biggest political party in the parliament, the onus is anyway on him to initiate meaningful dialogue with Madhesh-based parties.
Madheshi politics had been pushed to the background for past few weeks due to the impending NC general convention. Now that dust is settling on the five-year Congress gathering, the Madheshi parties are sure to make a renewed push for amendment of the new constitution. Again, we also don't see much difference in the ability of Deuba-the-Congress-leader vs Deuba-the-prime-minster when it comes to addressing the Madheshi issue. This is why we would again advise the new Nepali Congress president to try to first settle the disagreements over the new constitution before he looks to assume government leadership for the fourth time. There is no need to rush; he's been there, done that. He should be prepared to wait for a while. There can for instance be an agreement to form a new government under Congress when the disputes over the new constitution are settled and a new date for general election is agreed upon. Meanwhile, Deuba should focus his energies on trying to immediately resolve the Madheshi issue—with the support of UML party.
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