By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : Nepal’s embattled King Gyanendra misjudged the result of the crucial election that is likely to demolish his ancestors’ throne. The king threw an impromptu card party before the stunning news of an imminent Maoist victory reached the palace, a media report said.
The win of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s party man Prakash Man Singh from Kathmandu, the first result of Thursday’s constituent assembly election, gave the royal family false hope that Koirala’s ruling Nepali Congress party was going to emerge triumphant and save the institution of monarchy from being scrapped, a Nepali tabloid reported Wednesday.
The king, who had urged his “beloved countrymen” to vote without fear in the crucial election, had begun to calculate the possible election result Friday, when the first results started tricking in, the Jana Aastha weekly said.
While Singh was headed for victory in Kathmandu 1, other NC contestants were leading in the remaining Kathmandu seats, making the king conclude that the party, which had in the past supported constitutional monarchy, would sweep the election.
The king also analysed that Koirala’s former protégé and senior NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba would emerge more powerful than his mentor and get the support of both the US and India, the front-page report said.
Though the king had humiliated Deuba twice by sacking him for “inefficiency” and even sending him to prison on a charge of corruption, the monarch reportedly thought he could still mend fences with Deuba by manipulating family ties.
Deuba’s mother-in-law Pratibha Rana, who is contesting the election from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, once a royalist party that still has a soft spot for the crown, was invited to the palace Friday and told that her son-in-law should lead the government, the report said.
“There was an atmosphere of celebration and relief in the palace,” the weekly said.
“They all played cards while the guest was advised how her son-in-law could get better recognition and cooperation,” it added.
But soon after the guest left, the news started coming in that the Maoists were doing well in the capital and leading the race in the outer districts.
It marked yet another failure in the judgement of the king, the weekly said.
The gravest royal error in judgement was made three years ago when the king sowed the seeds of self-destruction.
Unable to gauge the sentiment of the people, he seized absolute power with the help of the army, triggering an uprising that forced him to step down and begin a series of measures that snipped away the king’s powers and set the stage for the historic election that is expected to strike the deathblow to monarchy.