Cabinet reshuffle

The Himalayan Times

28 November 2019

Cabinet reshuffle

Nepal and its people are now used to seeing the political drama of the parties and their political leaders. Splits and mergers of the political parties before and after the promulgation of the new constitution were quite normal. Following the three levels of elections in line with the constitution, most of the fringe parties were either side-lined or completely wiped out. That situation compelled some of the highly ambitious political leaders either to form a new political party with rosy political manifestos or take refuge in the bigger parties. Naya Sakti Party and Bibeksheel Sajha Party are a few of them. Naya Sakti Party, led by Dr. Bhattarai merged with Upendra Yadav led Medhesi Janadhikar Forum. Bibeksheel Sajha Party could not remain for long under the same umbrella.

The recent decision of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to segregate the functions of two co-chairs after almost two years of its unification might have encouraged its leaders and cadres to move ahead unitedly. Now, PM Oli will lead the government for full five-year term and Prachanda will be leading party. Recently, PM Oil reshuffled his cabinet sacking some minsters citing their poor performance and inducing some new ministers hoping for a better performance. However, some of the ministers who were really performing well were sent home and others with a poor report card were retained. Political analysts opine that the recent cabinet reshuffle had nothing to do with the performance and was done simply to balance the intra-party political equation.

Another interesting political drama observed by the common people during this recent cabinet reshuffle was played by the Smajabadi Party Chair Upendra Yadav, whose portfolio was changed by PM Oli without consulting him.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj