Khanal forced resignation on Madhav Kumar Nepal, former prime minister and a senior leader from his own party, and eventually succeeded him. He made a seemingly compelling argument: Writing constitution and concluding the peace process were impossible without a national consensus government.[break]
Forget the elusive consensus- Khanal has just four ministers in his cabinet from party other than his own and the UCPN (Maoist), in whose backing Khanal became prime minister, is already debating whether to recall its ministers. And the peace process and constitution writing have virtually stalled, eroding his legitimacy.
There are many reasons why Khanal has become so ineffective and why he is beginning to appear vulnerable, but the main reason that has stymied his government, and even the UML-Maoist coalition, is the controversial 7-point deal that he and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal signed clandestinely.
It gave the coalition a false start and continues to haunt it even today. Since the signing of the 7-point deal, Prime Minister Khanal has neither been able to own it up or disown it. Result: The government has become virtually paralyzed and the two coalition partners - UML and UCPN (Maoist) -- remain deeply strained.
Khanal´s failure to appoint home minister and deteriorating law and order situation in the country has further undermined his standing.
If, on the one hand, Khanal is fast earning a reputation of a man of indecision and inaction, on the other, the decisions that he has taken have, unfortunately, landed him into further controversy and alienated even his close supporters.
Khanal mounted challenge against Madhav Nepal´s government and successfully shot it down with the help of young leaders in the UML - notably Ghanshyam Bhusal, Prakash Jwala, Yamlal Kandel,
Ravindra Adhikari and Yogesh Bhattarai. They also played an instrumental role in cobbling a left-coalition with the Maoists and getting Khanal elected to the top post.
But today these young guards vastly resent Khanal´s working style -his indecision and his tendency to rely more on people of his inner coterie comprised mainly of his relatives.
They have become even more resentful after he expanded his cabinet and none of them got a berth in it. Not that they were necessarily hungry for the post but they have been deeply hurt after seeing relatively unknown - and even some controversial - faces in the expanded cabinet.
Prime Minister Khanal hasn´t done favor to himself in including controversial faces in his cabinet. The case of state minister for finance Dr Lahr Kyal Lama is mysterious, to say the least. He became UML member just three years ago; has a history of changing parties and has courted a number of serious scandals.
Prime Minister Khanal seems to have realized the risk of losing the crucial support of these young leaders and is working on a damage control plan. He has appointed Prakash Jwala as his chief advisor and is said to have made up his mind to appoint Ghanashyam Bhusal as minister without portfolio.
Unfortunately, he seems to have already inflicted enough self-damage.
“Our main concern is that the prime minister should work effectively toward accomplishing the tasks of constitution writing and concluding the peace process instead of being hostage to indecision,” said one of the young guards, adding, “ Khanal must justify through his achievements that it was right to pull down a majority government led by another senior leader from the party.”
In the meantime, Nepal-Oli faction in the party, feels quite emboldened by the government´s lack of momentum and the prime minister´s lackluster performance. Crucially, Khanal also seems to have lost the support of the general secretary, Ishwar Pokharel.
Both Nepal and Oli have intensified their public attack against Khanal. Oli even publicly threatened on Saturday to take action against the prime minister should he go against the party decision.
As the prime minister becomes weak and has begun to feel the heat within his own party, the only force that can save him is his coalition partner - UCPN (Maoist) and its chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Unfortunately, Dahal remains embroiled in conflict within his own party and there is an increasing call within the Maoist party to review the overall political situation and party´s direction. Baidya and Bhattarai factions in the Maoist party already seem to have lost hope in Khanal. This only makes him more vulnerable.
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