Narayan Manandhar

On 8 January 2017, the then CJ Mrs Sushila Karki disqualified Mr Lok Man Singh Karki, purely on technical grounds, holding position of the CIAA Chief Commissioner. The verdict came after Mr Karki serving more than four years in the CIAA. This scribe wondered what happen to those legal and policy decisions Mr Karki signed in capacity of the Chief Commissioner? Even more important question raised at that time was: Why no actions were taken against those who appointed him in the first place? History seems to be repeating in Nepal. PM Karki’s appointment too in under the scrutiny. 

Taste of own medicine

With the writ petitions pending in the Supreme Court, questioning the constitutionality of her appointment plus recommendation to dissolve the parliament, she could have the taste of her own medicine. The court may or may not disqualify her and her recommendation or, simply, drag on the issue till the elections are over; Karki Government is in a deep crisis, that is for sure. There is a clear desperation and the frustrations in her face. She is in a situation of “’do it, damn it, don’t do it, damn it”. However, she has considerably softened her stand. This is explained by her closed door, 1-2-1 meeting with Oli - her arch enemy. So far, the media reported the meeting is about briefing on election preparations and securing UML assurance. You don’t need three hours to do that. When two enemies met closed door, something must be cooking. The winter temperature in Kathmandu is dipping but politics is heating up.     

The Doctrine of Necessity

Other than invoking the principle of “doctrine of necessity”, or rather “doctrine of compulsion”, there is nothing or little for PM Karki to hold onto the power. At prima facie, the case is unconstitutional. You don’t have to an expert or having a degree in law to understand the case. 
A blow by blow account of what transpired between 9 September and her appointment on 12 September will help to explain the situation. First, her name got floated, only after other aspirants or potential candidates refused or failed to accept the offer. Second, she accepted the responsibility with a condition that the parliament to be dissolved. The president cannot dissolve parliament without PM’s recommendations and the she cannot be appointed unless the parliament dissolved. The chicken-egg situation seems to have been resolved with she first would be appointed as the PM and, immediately, after her appointment she recommend parliament dissolution. The President with bado jukti sath (after carefully weighing) saved the constitution from its collapse. Some Congressi MPs have taken the phrase to mean the president taking decision under “duress”. Those who have read senior journo Mr Kishor Nepal’s tweet need no further explanation on this matter.   

The Accidental Prime Minister

Under the doctrine of necessity, PM Karki is assumed to be an accidental/incidental prime minister (Oli dubbed as ha-hoo sarkar). She is an accidental prime minister, not because she rose to the power due to accident situations in September; rather she seems to be waiting for an accident to happen. Karki Government is in crisis, not because one of her powerful ministers resigned, she is in crisis due to Damocles sword handing at the Supreme Court. 
The above mentioned closed door meeting with Oli, including possible speculations on back room deals imply drawing out a Plan B, in case, the court decided to reinstate the parliament. Oli has already published his political road map. The plan speaks of, in addition to parliament reinstatement, introducing an amendment to appoint PM outside the parliament. This will be Khila Raj Regmi 2.0. 

Another Karki in Crisis

The crisis is waiting for another Karki at janch-booze aayog. The deadline for submission of the final report is coming to a close. As the deadline approaches, the investigation commission is relying on securing written statements, rather than collecting information through face-to-face interviews. Given the controversy, one can fairly assume on the contents of the report. When you are at the glare of public scrutiny, you behave differently. I can bet the report will be akin to royal palace massacre report, all descriptive in character, falling short of identifying the culprits involved in 8 September shooting and 9 September looting. Who knows there could be trade-off between those two incidents - swapping one against the other? When it comes to making tough deals, we, Nepalese, are pretty good at finding indecisive, ambiguous gray areas. In short, keeping it in a deep freeze or tameli in judicial jargon.

Euphoria of Gen-Z is over

PM Karki’s distaste with mainstream political parties and their leaders put her in a difficult situation. Over the last three months, she seems to have come to a  gradual realization that she can do nothing without 3-bigs. She must have felt- it is comfortable to be in association with slow and senile people, of course of her age, than to be with a bunch of rowdy youngsters or political thugs.

Clearly, the voices demanding her resignation is one recede. But this does not mean her difficult days are over. If she hold elections on time, she will have to go, if she fails to hold elections on time, again she will have to go. The difference is: Whether she will pull out her picture from the lines of picture of the PMs held on the wall of Baluwatar residence, as she did at the residence of CJ, or she will leave it there intact? The choice is hers. 

sushila karki