Monday, October 6, 2008

Time to move on, Mr. Koirala

The piece below appeared in NepalNews.com yesterday. Mr. G.P. Koirala appears to have got a second wind. Not having the stress of being PM, his health appears to have revived. He is enjoying the luxury of being the opposition leader and is mouthing aggressive platitudes. Bringing back the NC "to its pre-election form within just 3 months"...has he been quoted wrongly or is he joking! Besides the ludicrous time-frame, the "pre-election" NC was the one which managed to obtain only half the number of seats in the CA as compared to the Maoists. It was the NC, which under GPK's leadership, destroyed itself, antagonized its "young Turks", and was in the forefront of the unconstitutional removal of the monarchy - all because this ambitious but empty-headed politician wanted to be the first President of Nepal. Not only did he not become the President, he was thrown out of the PM's post into what really should be ignonminious obscurity. Yet this ignoramus is seemingly roaring. This is indeed a poor reflection on the NC and its "second generation" leaders who remain docile, resigned to the party's fate in the ashes of history.

Koirala vows to bring NC back to its pre-election form

Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala has claimed that he will bring the party back to its pre-election form within just three months.

Speaking to party workers in his hometown Biratnagar on Monday, Koirala said he was confident that the party would regain its lost strength within that timeline. In the meantime, the octogenarian leader threw a clear hit that he was not yet ready to transfer leadership to what is known within the Congress party as second generation, saying he would not retire unless the party regained its old form.

The NC president also asked the cadres to resolve internal differences and focus on rebuilding the party organisation.

Meanwhile, NC central leader and GP Koirala's close aide Shekhar Koirala has said his party is not interested in toppling the Maoist-led government.

"Even as the Maoists are accusing us of trying to topple the government, NC will not make such a move because there is very little time left for drafting a constitution and our focus will be on timely drafting of the constitution," reports quoted him as saying at a programme in Biratnagar.

He, however, said if the current coalition government falls apart due to its own failures, NC would be ready to take charges. nepalnews.com mk Oct 06 08

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your main point is right on. However, there's a strong probability that the Koirala roar is related to encouragement from familiar foreign power centers. As
always, like an onion, there are layers below layers.

Anonymous said...

Nobody can displace Koirala as he controls the purse strings of the Congress party. Someone down in the hierarchy should be able to pull off the mother of all corruptions to displace him as the exchequer of the party, but Congress is not in government.

HORATIO said...

Thanks for the above two Anon. comments.

Yes, we are all too familiar with this foreign power who purports to be our biggest friend but continues to treat us most condescendingly as a 'little brother'. To top it off, we have these turncoat politicians and others who pander to India's interests for the sake of power and especially their bank balances. The day India realizes that it is in its best interest to let Nepal be a sovereign nation, these turncoats will be out in the cold and we can have a reasonable and mature relationship with our powerful neighbour.

As for Koirala and his purse strings, what is needed is not 'the mother of all corruption' but vision and activism from the young (at least younger) stalwarts of the Nepali Congress. By the way, Congress is not in government of course - it could have been leading this government, if not for the follies of Mr. Koirala. It shocks me no one in NC has the guts to all him out!!

HORATIO said...

in the last line above, please read "call", instead of all.

Anonymous said...

I would have to agree with you on GPK..I don't care for him much! I'm not up to speed on the NC party at the moment though so that's all i can really comment on.

HORATIO said...

Anon 7:16, your gut instincts on GPK are right on. You can google Nepali Congress for more info on this party which is falling apart.
Thanks for your comment.