Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s renewed advocacy allowing a political space for the King has drawn sharp reactions from the Maoists, as well as from others, including his seven-party alliance (SPA) partner, the CPN-UML. CPN-Maoist’s second-in-command Dr Baburam Bhattarai on Monday took the forum of businesspeople to accuse the Prime Minister of being guided by some ‘invisible hand’. He claimed that Koirala avoided signing the final draft (the 20th that day) of a package deal on August 3 though Prachanda had already signed it, and again the following day after it was reworked. Koirala’s volte face on the document finalised by the talks teams from both sides, according to Bhattarai, was inspired by an anonymous caller on the phone. This indeed is a serious charge, all the more so because of the growing public perception of obtrusive foreign role in Nepal’s current politics.

Ominous are the political events that do not promise speedy movement towards the constituent assembly (CA) elections. The SPA government has lived its 100 days in office, making all sorts of declarations and decisions. Some of them were indeed relevant and necessary, but they have hardly taken the country closer to the CA polls, the cornerstone of the Jana Andolan’s clarion call. It is not just Bhattarai who is striking pessimistic notes as regards the Maoist-government talks heading nowhere because of Koirala’s ‘adamant stance’. However, Bhattarai said that the Maoists would not flee from the negotiating table but would instead concentrate on launching another Jana Andolan in urban areas. Deputy Prime Minister Amik Sherchan on Monday not only expressed his dissatisfaction over the government’s ‘focus on making petty decisions while avoiding important political decisions’, but also threatened to quit. Meanwhile, the civil society organisations have started to take to the streets to mount further pressure on the government to clear the obstacles to the CA polls.

Bhattarai’s other charge is that the SPA had instigated the Maoists to launch attacks on particular government targets and even supplied names of people for the Maoists’ ‘hit list’. The charge assumes special significance as it punctures the SPA’s claim of the movement being peaceful all through. The SPA had entered into the 12-point agreement, as the Maoists later realised, just to foil the municipal elections. All these discordant voices coming from the political leaders plus the lack of progress towards the central goal of constituent assembly make at least one thing clear: the mandate of the Jana Andolan is getting sidelined. What will take its place is uncertain. What, however, seems pretty certain about the future for the Nepalis, if the political actors fail to keep their word, is that the consequences will be far from pleasant and peaceful. All political forces, particularly those in power now, will be well advised to take this into serious account.