By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : From being an outlaw who remained underground for over a dozen years and carried a price on his head, Prachanda, chief of Nepal’s once banned Maoist party, will now seek to be the first president of the former Himalayan kingdom.
The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, which will take part in an election after more than a decade, is going to the April 10 polls with the slogan “Comrade Prachanda as first president of new Nepal”.
“For total change and lasting peace, make the Maoists victorious,” says the election slogan, finalised after a meeting of the top leaders of the party that ended Tuesday.
The 53-year-old agriculture graduate, who will make his poll debut after almost three decades in politics, will be fielded for the post of Nepal’s first president, signalling the transformation of the state from a kingdom to a federal republic.
The decision will be a blow for Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and his Nepali Congress party.
Koirala became the prime minister of Nepal after the fall of King Gyanendra’s government in April 2006 without having to face an election because he had the backing of the Maoists.
It is said that the Maoists persuaded Koirala, a supporter of monarchy, to agree to abolish the crown and declare Nepal a republic after a tacit understanding that they would support his candidature as the first president of republic Nepal.
Besides the Maoists’ decision to field Prachanda, Koirala’s aspiration to the post will also be hampered by his failing health.
The 84-year-old, once a chronic smoker, is suffering from cold, cough and breathing difficulties.
His health condition triggered a rumour in the capital Tuesday that his condition was deteriorating.
To spike the rumours, the state television station beamed footage of the octogenarian resting at home.
Though his doctors said Koirala is recovering, they have advised him rest and asked him not to attend public meetings, which could affect his party’s poll campaign.
The Maoists have effected a patch-up among contending factions and predict they will have a majority win in the polls.
Koirala on the other hand has to grapple with the growing rift between royalists and democrats in his own party, the discontent at his decision to appoint his daughter Sujata minister and the public anger at the recent hike in fuel prices that has triggered nationwide protests.