ID :
13775
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 14:44
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http://m.oananews.org//node/13775
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Nepal Prez Yadav was handpicked by G.P. Koirala By Shirish B Pradhan
Kathmandu, July 25 (PTI) - Even after resigning as Prime Minister, octogenarian leader G.P. Koirala calls the shots in post-monarchy Nepal with his handpicked candidate elected as the first president, a move that sidelined the Maoists and wonhis party the support of Indian-origin Madhesi community.
"It is my father who proposed the name of Ram Baran Yadav Yadav for the post of president," Sujata Koirala, thedaughter of the veteran Nepali Congress leader told P.T.I.
Yadav was the family physician of Koiralas since 1980s and was picked up to join the politics by Girija PrasadKoirala himself.
The Nepali Congress had initially proposed Koirala name for the post, but after strong opposition from Maoists and Madhesi groups, Koirala approached his party colleagues former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, party Vice-president and Peace Minister Ram Chandra Poudyal and Finance MinisterRam Sharan Mahat.
However, after the three did not show much interest Koirala thought that Madhesi candidate of the party will give a good fight against Maoist candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh, another leader from the Madhesi community, revealed Sujata,also a central committee member of Nepali Congress.
The Maoists, who were trying to install a "weak" President, proposed the name of Ram Raja Prasad Singh in a last minute decision though they had earlier promised tosupport C.P.N.-U.M.L. candidate Madhav Kumar Nepal.
The C.P.N.-U.M.L. which felt humiliated after Prachanda rejected Nepal's name, forged an alliance with Nepali Congress at the eleventh hour and with the backing of Madhesi People's Rights Forum and other smaller parties, Yadavwas elected as president.
A sulking C.P.N. (Maoist), which had earlier staked claim to form the government and forced Koirala to quit, hasnow declared that it will sit in the opposition.
A Madhesi leader educated in India, Yadav isconsidered a "moderate".
By getting Yadav elected, Koirala, who is known for his negotiating skills and is the architect of the peaceprocess, has hit two birds with a stone, analysts said.
He has derailed Maoists' designs of overall control of the country and also regained the lost ground for his party in Terai, where Madhesi groups have been agitating for greaterautonomy.
Nepali Congress had lost most of the seats in Teraidue to the emergence of many regional parties in the region.
The party has kept regained its vote bank in Terai for next election by nominating Yadav from the southern plainsthat have a three million-strong Yadav population, they said.
A four-time prime minister, Koirala heads the country's biggest party Nepali Congress and oversaw several crucial turning points in the Himalayan country's history, the most recent being the end of Maoists insurgency in 2006 andthe abolition of 240-year-old monarchy in May.
Despite putting in his papers on June 26, the India-born leader, who has seen it all-- from his struggle as a trade union leader to confronting the country's monarchs and scripting the Maoists' merger into mainstream-- is apparentlystill not ready to wrap up his long political innings.
Koirala has been dodged by health problems lately and suffers from chronic bronchitis due to his previous habit ofchain smoking.
"It is my father who proposed the name of Ram Baran Yadav Yadav for the post of president," Sujata Koirala, thedaughter of the veteran Nepali Congress leader told P.T.I.
Yadav was the family physician of Koiralas since 1980s and was picked up to join the politics by Girija PrasadKoirala himself.
The Nepali Congress had initially proposed Koirala name for the post, but after strong opposition from Maoists and Madhesi groups, Koirala approached his party colleagues former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, party Vice-president and Peace Minister Ram Chandra Poudyal and Finance MinisterRam Sharan Mahat.
However, after the three did not show much interest Koirala thought that Madhesi candidate of the party will give a good fight against Maoist candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh, another leader from the Madhesi community, revealed Sujata,also a central committee member of Nepali Congress.
The Maoists, who were trying to install a "weak" President, proposed the name of Ram Raja Prasad Singh in a last minute decision though they had earlier promised tosupport C.P.N.-U.M.L. candidate Madhav Kumar Nepal.
The C.P.N.-U.M.L. which felt humiliated after Prachanda rejected Nepal's name, forged an alliance with Nepali Congress at the eleventh hour and with the backing of Madhesi People's Rights Forum and other smaller parties, Yadavwas elected as president.
A sulking C.P.N. (Maoist), which had earlier staked claim to form the government and forced Koirala to quit, hasnow declared that it will sit in the opposition.
A Madhesi leader educated in India, Yadav isconsidered a "moderate".
By getting Yadav elected, Koirala, who is known for his negotiating skills and is the architect of the peaceprocess, has hit two birds with a stone, analysts said.
He has derailed Maoists' designs of overall control of the country and also regained the lost ground for his party in Terai, where Madhesi groups have been agitating for greaterautonomy.
Nepali Congress had lost most of the seats in Teraidue to the emergence of many regional parties in the region.
The party has kept regained its vote bank in Terai for next election by nominating Yadav from the southern plainsthat have a three million-strong Yadav population, they said.
A four-time prime minister, Koirala heads the country's biggest party Nepali Congress and oversaw several crucial turning points in the Himalayan country's history, the most recent being the end of Maoists insurgency in 2006 andthe abolition of 240-year-old monarchy in May.
Despite putting in his papers on June 26, the India-born leader, who has seen it all-- from his struggle as a trade union leader to confronting the country's monarchs and scripting the Maoists' merger into mainstream-- is apparentlystill not ready to wrap up his long political innings.
Koirala has been dodged by health problems lately and suffers from chronic bronchitis due to his previous habit ofchain smoking.
