SOCIALIST FRONT
KATHMANDU, JUNE 24
Although the top leaders of the Socialist Front comprising the CPN-MC, CPN- US, Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal and Communist Party of Nepal said this front would be different from past alliances as they had built ideological congruence on many issues, political analysts believe the front is for bargaining on the basis of political power in the Parliament.
The three parties of the front - CPN-MC, CPN (US) and JSP-N have a combined strength of 54 seats in the House of Representatives.
Political analyst Jay Nishant says no matter what the constituents of the front say publicly, they are guided by just one motive - to enhance bargaining power to retain the current coalition or to form another government if the situation arises. According to Nishant, it is not hard to gauge the motives of the constituent parties in forming the socialist front. Some CPN- UML leaders' threat to topple the government may have prompted these parties to form the front.
CPN- US Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal's remarks yesterday that CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli was attempting to topple the government by offering the post of prime minister to NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, whom he called a capitalist leader who is not, or only half committed to socialism reflects the front's political worries.
While it may not be easy for the Nepali Congress to fall for the UML allurement and leave the current coalition to form a new government with UML support at least at this stage, the adage that nothing is impossible in politics appears to have motivated the four parties to announce formation of the front.
Nishant says the formation of the front is reflective of survival strategy as the three parties - the CPN-MC, CPN-US and JSPN - have lost considerable vote share in the parliamentary election. Had there been ideological congruence, CPN-US leader Rajendra Pandey would not openly challenge the budgetary allocation, Nishant said. Ideological similarity is a popular phrase everybody uses but nobody is committed to.
Prof Lokraj Baral said if the front leaders were committed to socialism, they would not leave former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai, who mooted the Idea of the front and who said there was no need to have the communist tag anymore. Prof Baral said communist leaders were known for splitting or merging their outfits. "Communist leaders are individual-centric and they can leave or join any alliance," he said and added that the communists had split dozens of times since the inception of the communist party. As far as the formation of the front and alliance is concerned, parties' track records are poor. In the past, parties easily quit one alliance and joined another. JSP-N had left the NC led alliance a few days before the parliamentary polls to join hands with the UML. During the constitution making process, CPN-MC left the alliance formed with Madhesi and janajati forces and joined hands with the NC and the UML. "We won't be surprised if JSP-N or any other constituent of the front leaves the alliance," Nishant said.
He said Yadav's decision to join the front was guided by two factors - he faces crisis of existence in Madhes, the party's political bastion. He lost parliamentary election to Janamat Party Chair CK Raut with a huge margin and his party also lost its vote share this time. It is yet be seen how long the constituents of the front are able to remain together.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
