By Sunil KC

Prime Minister KP Oli’s walk on the political tightrope continues with almost every step he has taken since he headed the coalition government eight months ago keep backfiring on him. He has been involved in one controversy after another but he has not been able to shore even one of them to a definite conclusion.

The latest controversy came when the government’s plan to table a bill on the parliament to amend the act related to political parties, and the smaller parties were immediately up in arms accusing the government of trying to break their parties to garner necessary votes to pass the ordinances, mainly the one related to the land act.

They accuse the Oli government of resorting to intimidating tactics. Madhav Kumar Nepal of CPN-Unified Socialist feels the bill was directly targeted at his party which has eight seats in the upper house. Birodh Khatiwada of the party said the Oli government is trying to garner the necessary votes to pass the ordinances by splitting smaller parties by any means – breaking them up, encouraging defection and enticements. However, the UML denies the accusation saying the government was only trying to rejuvenate the dormant provision of the Land Act. But the opponents see the timing of tabling the bill in the parliament with scepticism.

Under the existing act, it needs 40 per cent of the party’s central committee members as well as 40 per cent of the parliamentary party members to break away from the mother party. The bill seeks to amend the provision to either 40 per cent of the central committee or the parliamentary party members. The opponents doubt the government may also try to amend the clause in the act that the split away faction will not be able to merge with another party for five years. They even said the threshold for break up could also be reduced from the existing 40 per cent.

Upendra Yadav of Janata Samajwadi Party said if the Oli government pushes through the ordinance related to the Land Act, his party with three seats in the Upper House will oppose all the ordinances and will even consider withdrawing its support from the government. Another small Madhesh-based party, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party of Mahanta Thakur also said that he would consider withdrawing from the government. When even former UML vice president Bamdev Gautam, nominated by the president in the upper house, said that he would use his discretion on the ordinances, mainly related to the land act, Gautam’s statement came after he, once a vice president of the party, failed to get significant clout and power to join the UML party. Now, he said he would not be joining the UML any time soon.

With Yadav vehemently opposed to the Land Act ordinance and even Gautam backing off, Oli found that he had mountains to climb to pass the ordinances. According to reports, his government now has decided to withdraw the ordinance related to Land Act, but push the other five ordinances in the parliament.

The question is why Oli is so intent on getting this ordinance through the parliament. Critics say if he can pass the ordinance this will open the floodgate to distribute government and public lands to party supporters and workers, thus, significantly increasing his base in the upcoming election in 2084 BS. Another serious accusation is that specific interest groups and big business persons will be the most benefitted ones instead of the real landless or poor.

Oli’s controversies do not end here. His tussle with Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah has escalated again after the government failed to appoint the chief administrative officer for the municipality. Mayor Shah through his social media post has taken it as a reprisal. In fact, almost two dozen municipalities in the country are without chief administration officer, seriously hampering their daily administrative functions, including salary to staff and other important development works.

Another issue of the week is Kulman Ghising of Nepal Electricity Authority with Energy Minister Deepak Khadka hell-bent on removing him. Ghising has been demanding one clarification after another. But defiant Ghising stated that the minister has no authority to remove him. He can only be relieved of the position by the decision of the cabinet. Khadka even tried to remove the cabinet decision, but however when his own Nepal Congress party refused to support the agenda and Khadka’s junior minister Purna Bahadur Tamang also opposed the removal and the proposal failed. The question is Ghising has only about four months left before his tenure as managing director of NEA ends, but the government is keen on sacking him. Oli had tried to remove him as soon as he became prime minister eight months ago under pressure from industrialists who did not want to pay their outstanding electricity bills under dedicated and trunk lines during the load-shedding, but Ghising remained defiant. Many see Oli and Khadka making the ouster of Ghising a prestige issue. Another is, Ghising popularity among the people for ending load-shedding and the NEA’s turn-around from being a loss-making entity to making billions in profit during his tenure.

Prime Minister Oli has been fighting fire on one front too many and seems to be losing at many of them.  Much to his dismay a large section of the Nepali Congress, his coalition partner in the government, seems reluctant and even disinclined to support many of his decisions, even questioning and contradicting many of them. This might be making him almost a lame-duck prime minister. Who knows, Oli and his UML party may exact revenge when its turn comes after Oli hands over the premiership to Deuba in about a year and a half!!