By P.R. Pradhan

Odd to notice that the present caretaker government, whose responsibility was to conduct an election and should hand over power to an elected new government soon, has decided to issue an ordinance granting amnesty to those who have committed serious crimes and facing a jail term. The government has decided to bring such an ordinance not because those who are spending jail terms are innocent but because the coalition partners in the government want to bag the necessary majority in parliament with the support of those small political parties involved in serious crimes in the past.

Several legal experts, also those leaders from the ruling alliance have opposed the government's decision. In fact, the new members of the House of Representatives have already been elected and very soon, the parliament session is going to start. Even by escaping the House, the caretaker government is in a hurry for issuing the ordinance because the present coalition partners want to ensure the formation of their government.

The main goal of issuing the ordinance is to release Resham Chaudhari of the Nagarik Unmukti Party, who is facing a jail term following the court verdict on the charge of killing several people including a senior police officer and police personnel. Similarly, party workers of the Janamat Party, the Nepal Communist Party Revolutionary led by Netra Bikram Chand and party workers from some Tarai-centric parties will also get amnesty from the ordinance. This is just a casting presented by the possible coalition government being formed soon.

Morning shows the day:

How will the new coalition government function, we can assume as morning shows how will be the day! Moreover, we have already seen the performance of the five-party coalition government, in which, the minister and the government had heavily misused power and organized rampant loot on the government coffer. The performance of the House of Representatives was also not satisfactory. Dramatically, the MCC, a controversial American grant project was endorsed. The House was unable to investigate the presence of some middlemen during the drafting of the budget for the present fiscal year. The House was unable to finalize the impeachment case against chief justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana. The House had violated the constitutional provision by intentionally delaying the investigation of the case against CJ Rana. The citizenship amendment bill was endorsed abruptly by suspending the previous citizenship amendment bill, which was minutely discussed by the MPs and was at the final stage for House’s approval. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota denied taking action against the MPs belonging to the UML who quit the party and formed a new party. As per the constitutional provision, those MPs should have been suspended. To legalize the act, prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba issued an ordinance amending the law related to the split of the political party. In conclusion, the previous parliament decisions were full of conspiracy and bullying by the majority in the House.

Present race: 

The present race for the formation of a new coalition government is the second inning of the previous government constituted through the court verdict. Now, the leaders have changed their strategies. Leaders from the three parties – Nepali Congress, Maoist Center and Unified Socialist Party – led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda and Madhav Nepal respectively are seen as the main players in the game. Deuba wants to continue as the PM for the next term. Prachanda is saying that the PM’s post should be shared by both Deuba and Prachanda two and a half years turn by turn and he should get the first chance to become the PM. On the other hand, Madhav Nepal is saying that he also should get a chance to become the prime minister for a minimum of one year. Meanwhile, the leaders are talking about a package deal on sharing the post of the President, Vice President, speaker, deputy speaker, provincial chiefs and provincial chief ministers and other posts. Meanwhile, small parties are also bargaining for lucrative posts.   

On the other hand, K.P. Sharma Oli is also eying on the formation of the government. He is looking towards possibilities for a collation government under his party’s leadership. Similarly, he has sent a message to the Nepali Congress leadership for the formation of a minority Nepali Congress government supported by UML, which will sideline the kingmakers of the present government, Prachanda and Nepal.

Yet the picture has not become clear.