KATHMANDU: Recent incidents of shootings and murders have eroded public trust in the government, yet the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led coalition can linger on.

The Prime Minister, disheartened by increasing criticism of the government and the complete lack of trust shown by the public, was in a mood to resign during Wednesday’s meeting, ministers participating in the meeting said.

However, the logic during the meeting was that the only alternative, at this moment, is to hand over regime to the Maoists. “That would have been most unfortunate,” the minister said.

Although the Home Minister is claiming that the recent criminal incidents are signs of desperation (because the Special Security Plan is working), other members of the government are not ready to buy that argument.

The cabinet then decided to give one last shot in improving the security by defining the run up to the May 28 deadline as an extra-ordinary situation and allowing for increase in current expenditure.

With only 85 days remaining for the announcement of the constitution, there are real chances that political conflict will increase closer to the deadline.

In its defence, the government is pointing at three main obstacles to the implementation of the Special Security Plan: the Finance Ministry’s refusal to bear expenditure; diversion of security forces to manage Maoist movement; and the High Level Peace Mechanism’s contribution to undermining the authority of the government by introducing the agenda of transfer of power.

“They (HLPM) should either propose an alternative to the government, or allow it to function,” a minister said. “Political instability will only affect the performance of the government because nobody will take it seriously.” The assessment appears to hit the mark, even with the detractors of the government in the NC and the UML.

The primary cause of pervasive insecurity in the country is the link between politics and crime, as well as arbitrary political interventions in the bureaucracy and the security forces due to an obsession with transfers, promotions and commissions.

The current government has received serious jolt from publicised cases of corruption and controversial remarks of top-level cabinet members.

The views expressed in the media in recent days indicate that the people’s trust in the government has reached the lowest ebb. However, it does not necessarily mean that the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government will fall.

The internal squabble within the Nepali Congress means that it will be extremely difficult for the party to propose a name to lead the new coalition, says Gagan Thapa, one of the first members of the NC parliamentary party to point out the need for change.

“It doesn’t make sense to talk about change in the government unless the three parties come up with an agreement that political protection of crime will be completely stopped,” he said. “This issue must top the list of agreements.”

Despite deep ruptures within, the UML is not yet ready to make it public that not everyone in the Central Committee is happy with the current government.

“In order to guarantee peace and constitution, the UML is ready to do anything,” says UML central committee member Ghanashyam Bhusal. “However, the current political situation is not in favour of Maoist-led government,” he said.

The realisation of this truth, and the continued intransigence of the Maoists, if they persist, will be the key factors that might give life to the current government until May 28.