Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09KATHMANDU471
2009-06-05 09:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
how-toVZCZCXRO1518 OO RUEHCI DE RUEHKT #0471 1560909 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 050909Z JUN 09 FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0271 INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 6979 RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 7302 RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 2624 RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 5346 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 6485 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 3060 RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 0257 RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 4619 RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2333 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3542 RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHMFISS/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000471
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MADHESI FORUM IN DISARRAY
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Randy W. Berry. Reasons 1.4 (b/
d).
Forum Chairman Announces Withdrawal of Support to Government
--------------------------------------------- ---------------
C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000471
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MADHESI FORUM IN DISARRAY
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Randy W. Berry. Reasons 1.4 (b/
d).
Forum Chairman Announces Withdrawal of Support to Government
-------------- --------------
1. (U) At a news conference June 5 Madhesi People's Rights
Forum (MPRF) Chairman Upendra Yadav announced that his party
had withdrawn its support to Prime Minister M. K. Nepal's
Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist (UML)-led
government. Yadav further announced that the party central
committee had met and expelled seven party leaders --
including newly sworn-in Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Physical Planning and Works Bijay Gachhadar. Yadav stated
the party's actions were necessitated by the Gachhadar
faction acting against the interests of the party.
But Majority of Parliamentary Party Not Behind Chairman
-------------- --------------
2. (C) Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav, MPRF Constituent Assembly
(CA) member and part of the Gachhadar faction, told Emboff
June 5 that, contrary to Upendra's claim no central committee
meeting had taken place. Thus any actions taken against
Gachhadar or others are unconstitutional. Singh Yadav
maintained that 32 of the 53 MPRF CA members, and six of the
ten members of the party's Political Committee, are unified
behind Gachhadar. A delegation from the Gachhadar faction
has met with Nepali Congress President G. P. Koirala and
Prime Minister M. K. Nepal to explain the situation and to
request that the PM induct additional members of the
Gachhadar faction into the government. Singh Yadav asserted
that the Gachhadar faction is not in favor of splitting the
party, but it is opposed to Upendra's autocratic style and
his uncritical support of Maoist chairman and former Prime
Minister Pushpa Dahal.
Comment
--------------
3. (C) MPRF has never been a unified party and has come near
the point of splitting a number of times in the past year.
The Interim Constitution states that if at least 40 percent
of the members of a party's central committee favor a split,
then both factions can be recognized as independent parties,
but does not directly address splits within parliamentary
parties. Given that the Chairman of the CA is from the PM's
party, and that without MPRF's 52 votes the coalition
majority becomes razor-thin, it is unlikely that either the
PM or CA will recognize Upendra's demands. Although
previously Upendra was viewed as having the support of the
central committee, the openness of divisions within the party
this time may lead to a split, with Upendra in the minority.
Even if MPRF finds a way to maintain some superficial form of
unity, it does not bode well for stability of the new
government.
POWELL
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MADHESI FORUM IN DISARRAY
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Randy W. Berry. Reasons 1.4 (b/
d).
Forum Chairman Announces Withdrawal of Support to Government
-------------- --------------
1. (U) At a news conference June 5 Madhesi People's Rights
Forum (MPRF) Chairman Upendra Yadav announced that his party
had withdrawn its support to Prime Minister M. K. Nepal's
Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist (UML)-led
government. Yadav further announced that the party central
committee had met and expelled seven party leaders --
including newly sworn-in Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Physical Planning and Works Bijay Gachhadar. Yadav stated
the party's actions were necessitated by the Gachhadar
faction acting against the interests of the party.
But Majority of Parliamentary Party Not Behind Chairman
-------------- --------------
2. (C) Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav, MPRF Constituent Assembly
(CA) member and part of the Gachhadar faction, told Emboff
June 5 that, contrary to Upendra's claim no central committee
meeting had taken place. Thus any actions taken against
Gachhadar or others are unconstitutional. Singh Yadav
maintained that 32 of the 53 MPRF CA members, and six of the
ten members of the party's Political Committee, are unified
behind Gachhadar. A delegation from the Gachhadar faction
has met with Nepali Congress President G. P. Koirala and
Prime Minister M. K. Nepal to explain the situation and to
request that the PM induct additional members of the
Gachhadar faction into the government. Singh Yadav asserted
that the Gachhadar faction is not in favor of splitting the
party, but it is opposed to Upendra's autocratic style and
his uncritical support of Maoist chairman and former Prime
Minister Pushpa Dahal.
Comment
--------------
3. (C) MPRF has never been a unified party and has come near
the point of splitting a number of times in the past year.
The Interim Constitution states that if at least 40 percent
of the members of a party's central committee favor a split,
then both factions can be recognized as independent parties,
but does not directly address splits within parliamentary
parties. Given that the Chairman of the CA is from the PM's
party, and that without MPRF's 52 votes the coalition
majority becomes razor-thin, it is unlikely that either the
PM or CA will recognize Upendra's demands. Although
previously Upendra was viewed as having the support of the
central committee, the openness of divisions within the party
this time may lead to a split, with Upendra in the minority.
Even if MPRF finds a way to maintain some superficial form of
unity, it does not bode well for stability of the new
government.
POWELL