Whenever Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala sojourns in his hometown, he tends to give media the main news. Therefore, journalists, too, have now begun to expect something big when he visits Biratnagar for a couple of days. Recently, he urged King Gyanendra (whom he asked the media persons in Delhi during the 14th SAARC summit to call just “Gyanendra”) and Crown Prince Paras to abdicate, claiming that he had spoken earlier of providing the King with some political space under this condition. Koirala, widely thought to favour the retention of the monarchy in one form or the other, has come under increasing pressure from his own major alliance partners, particularly the CPN-Maoist and the CPN-UML, to declare the country a republic before the constituent assembly (CA) elections. The CPN-Maoist has even registered a motion to that effect in the interim parliament, and it collected 1.5 million public signatures in support of this call. Koirala’s inability to hold the CA polls on schedule has led to a somewhat new situation in the country.

It is in this context that Koirala spoke, once again, on the monarchy in Biratnagar on Tuesday. However, he made one thing clear: It is not necessary to announce a republic, as he thought the country is anyway going republican. According to him, Nepal is already 80 per cent republic and only 20 per cent monarchy. When the monarchy is stripped of the remaining 20 per cent of the rights reflected, in Koirala’s view, in such royal activities as visiting temples and other places, the nation will be declared a republic. He, however, said there is no need for announcement, because the republic will automatically arrive. The PM also pointed out that the government has begun the process of “nationalising the King’s property”. Despite all this, the republic v monarchy debate has increased the misunderstanding and distrust among the eight principal alliance partners. In such circumstances, Koirala’s talk of holding the eight-party summit soon after his return (he got back yesterday) to Kathmandu can only be welcome, as the summit has unnecessarily been delayed after the Election Commission’s announcement that the polls were not possible in June.

As the foremost goal of the interim government is to hold the CA polls, a new date should be fixed, and Koirala has hinted at November 26, the one suggested by the EC, as the next poll date. However, for a nation deceived on the CA polls for the past 57 years, it is imperative this time around to provide credible guarantees that the elections will not be deferred again. And who but PM Koirala can be expected to play the most important part in this task? It is for the eight parties to decide whether they want to settle the question of the monarchy right now or after the CA polls — the people will, in all likelihood, accept either course. But, as Koirala rightly said, the eight-party alliance must be kept intact at least till the CA polls — as any split would render them unlikely. This mandate of Jana Andolan II and the bottom line of the 8-party alliance should not be put on the back burner.