How successful is PM Dahal’s 10 month tenure?

By Our Reporter Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is all set to quit after completing his 10-month tenure in the office. By the time, this issue of this weekly reaches the readers, Dahal will have resigned.  As such, everyone wants to know how successful his term was. Obviously, Prime Minister Dahal had become prime minister for the second time in 8 years with a clear agenda of amending the constitution. However, he failed to accomplish this task. When Dahal assumed the high post in the full backing of NC and support of India, there were rumours, that Dahal was made the PM to foil Chinese president Xi Jinping’s proposed Nepal visit in October 2016. And if the rumours were based on fact, he succeeded in this mission. If we looked at the performance of Dahal, it was disappointing for the first five months as he failed to deliver as expected by the people and those who had made him the PM. However, the last five months turned to be successful for him. Holding of the first-phase local poll successfully was one of the biggest achievements of Dahal during his 10-month stint. Likewise, freeing the country from the problem of load-shedding was another success story. However, the people did not reward Dahal for this feat as the party fared very badly in Kathmandu. The signing of Memorandum of Understanding on One Belt One Road Initiatives at the end of his term was another important achievement of Dahal. Dahal dared to nod the OBOR despite strong opposition from India. Similarly, the decision to build the Kathmandu-Nijgadh fast-track by Nepal was another important achievement of Prime Minister Dahal.  When Dahal became PM by pulling down the Oli-led government, many had suspected that Dahal would grant the project to Indian companies to please India. However, Dahal failed to end the network of corruption and maintain rule of law. The withdrawal of cases relating to Kailai carnage has been one of the controversial moves of the Dahal-led government. The impeachment motion registered against Chief Justice SushilaKarki, failure to respect the court verdict by arresting Bal Krishna Dhungel will be remembered as a stain of Dahal for many years. Likewise, Dahal failed to move ahead the important bilateral agreements signed with China during the tenure of the Oli-led government. Despite these weaknesses, Dahal’s second innings can be taken as successful for some of the important achievements made during his tenure.