In what appears like a fast shift in political equations, Nepal is likely to witness a take over of the Federal government by the left alliance after a gap of 17 months, as a series of parleys between Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and leader of the Opposition K P Oli seems to have brought the two major parties closer to a coalition arrangement. According to top brass political sources, Prachanda, leader of the Maoist Center with just 32 members in parliament will continue to lead the government backed by the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, which has 79 members in the 275-member House of Representatives. The new deal between the two biggest left parties will be the third such exercise after their experiments broke down in bitter note, first in 2020 and then again in 2023 January. The Nepali Congress, the biggest party in the coalition government as well as in Parliament appears prepared as party chief Sher Bahadur Deuba Sunday asked his ministers to be ready to quit. A formal decision will be taken Monday, party sources said. Oli and Prachanda have also been making efforts to have the transitional justice bill to deal with cases of rights violations and forced disappearances during the decade-long armed Maoist insurgency that ended in 2006. “The two communist parties coming together is a natural event that we have been waiting to see materialize,” Minendra Rijal, a member of the NC central committee told The Indian Express. Previous such experiments had the open and visible support from China whereas both India and the US were against it.
