It may be noted here that the first Constituent Assembly of the country was dissolved on May 27, 2012 with the expiry of its total term of four years including extended two years for failure to write a new constitution for the country. [break]
After the CA dissolution without a constitution, political parties of the country made efforts to forge consensus to form a new government to replace Dr. Baburam Bhattarai-led government. His government was a government of an alliance between UCPN-Maoist party, the largest in the dissolved CA and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), a front of Madhes based parties.
But their efforts were futile, the major political parties UCPN-Maoist, NC and CPN-UML and the UDMF were sticking to their guns as they harped for consensus.
UCPN-Maoist and UDMF pushed for consensus on Bhattarai led government whereas Nepali Congress and CPN-UML were fed up with Bhattarai -led government, firstly, they thought that it was NC´s turn to lead the government which UML also supported and secondly Bhattarai -led government misused power and government fund and violated human rights and rule of law. The opposition had held the view that Bhattarai -led government was just a caretaker government and as national politics was just running on consensus; Bhattarai cannot hold next elections unilaterally which he twice declared but failed to hold.
The opposition was just to come to street to oust Bhattarai from agitation but was dillydallying due to less hope of success of the agitation as the April 2006 revolution´s strength was divided.
The UCPN-Maoist, which was in power avoided giving up power in one or the other pretexts, and was dealing with parties just as a cat plays with the mouse.
The UCPN-Maoist too was not in a situation to undermine NC and UML, also because its strength too had diminished with split of the CPN-Maoist from a faction of the party led by Mohan Baidya, another vice chairman of the party.
In this situation, UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, declared in the party´s 7 th general convention that the only outlet will be a CJ- led government for the purpose of holding next CA elections.
This proposal brought forth a flurry of reactions for both in favour and against.
The Maoist block outright supported it but NC, UML and other parties opposed it.
However, this proposal by Prachanda also lured the opposition to talks and they saw in it an opportunity to oust Bhattarai-led government which they thought was quite unpopular. They also thought this too was a Maoist ploy and Prachanda will just make the CJ what he made of NC President Sushil Koirala earlier by proposing as a prime minister.
Though in principle quite controversial for the incumbent CJ to lead a government, NC, UML and their alliance saw in it a golden opportunity to oust a Maoist government, which often threatened to rule for another 30 years if no consensus, forged.
Slowly and steadily, NC and UML leaders opted to support a CJ -led government although their cadres were suspicious about it. Even the Bar Association of the country termed it unconstitutional to create public opinion against it.
Finally, the deal was signed for it after wrangling for almost a year of CA dissolution and after innumerable inconclusive talks. For whatever objective of whatever party, the CJ of the country, who initially was reluctant to lead such a government, finally agreed to lead, and became prime minister of the country to be called chairman of the Election Council of Ministers after much hardwork by the parties, for amending the Interim Constitution 2063 BS, made possible by the removal of constitutional difficulties by the president.
The Chief Justice is now the PM, it is a reality as he headed a three-member cabinet initially on March 13 with members from the former bureaucrats-- former chief secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire as the minister for home and foreign affairs and Hari Prasad Neupaney, as minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs.
The quite and reserved CJ hailing from a western hilly district of Palpa is now on the move.
His small cabinet is taking steps and making decisions quickly and swiftly without having tardy and inconclusive talks, aimed only at second CA polls by third week of June. In this connection, posts vacant in constitutional bodies including the Election Commission (EC) have been fulfilled. However, the date of the elections is yet to be fixed.
Political parties may dilly-dally to evade the polls by that date and extend it to November, but Regmi seems resolute if the Election Commission gives a green signal and if parties do not put hurdles on his way.
One interesting thing about his action- on one morning, he said the cabinet would be given a full shape in a few days, and in the evening, it got the full shape with 11 members in total.
This shows Regmi´s determination and action- oriented attitude even if some accuse him of bowing under parties´ pressure and becoming PM under their conditions and influence, as he has to work under a high-level political mechanism of the same major parties.
People want to see polls held as soon as possible but parties may bar him in one pretext or other as they are not prepared for elections and there are some risks, the breakaway faction of UCPN-Maoist led by Mohan Baidya ´Kiran´ has already vowed to boycott and obstruct the polls.
At least with CJ becoming the PM, people see some relief and see him as a ray of hope in the country plagued for long from distrust among parties. Some of the major parties too have shown signs that they are preparing for election and some election-oriented activities have been reported in the districts.
It seems that the CJ, now the new PM appointed to troubleshoot the country´s crisis, has already set the potter´s wheel to motion.
Let us see how Regmi will rescue a beleaguered republic from prolonged crisis!
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