Puranjan Acharya is a long-time Nepali Congress (NC) member, a political analyst and columnist who has cultivated a reputation as an objective and critical observer of Nepali politics. He was a confidant and advisor to Girija Prasad Koirala and has been a close follower of developments, both within the NC and in the broader political process. Now that two months have effectively passed since Sushil Koirala was elected prime minister, Kamal Dev Bhattarai and Pranaya SJB Rana asked Acharya to assess Koirala’s time in power, the inter- and intra-party dynamics of the NC and CPN-UML coalition and the challenges ahead for PM Koirala in producing a constitution in time.
Over two months into Prime Minister Sushil Koirala’s tenure, how do assess his performance? In the past 20 years or so, every prime minister has come into office with big promises. But by the time they leave office, they usually would not have fulfilled any of the promises made. This is not the case with Sushil Koirala. He never made any big promises. He said that he would do two things—hold local elections by April-May and produce a constitution. It is now clear that local elections cannot be held soon so he will not be delivering on 50 percent of his commitments. The remaining half has now become his primary agenda—producing a draft constitution by February next year. This agenda is on the right track. He has managed to cobble together a coalition government, which has a two-third majority in the Constituent Assembly (CA). So he has the requisite political strength. His leadership in forming the CA committees and the unanimous manner in which the heads were elected are to be appreciated.
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