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VOL. 03, NO. 03, July 01, 2009 (Ashadh 17 2066) |
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THE AIDES
All The Prime Ministers’ Men
Arguably the weakest prime minister in recent years heading a fragile 22-party coalition, Madhav Kumar Nepal faces an uphill task of leading the country through a very critical political transition. Cool and extraordinarily tolerant, Nepal is also criticized for weak leadership and inconsistency in thoughts and actions. Seeking to ride on his strengths, he has sought to make up for the weaknesses by hiring a number of advisors. He also banks on the advice of some close acquaintances and the party colleagues who have not been officially hired. A look at the men who matter to him.
By SUSHIL SHARMA with SAROJ DAHAL
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| PM Nepal : Searching his men |
Widely known as a cool person, Madhav Kumar Nepal is today in the hot seat in the Prime Minister’s office.
As head of a 22-party coalition, his job is by no means easy.
The first and foremost challenge is to keep the fragile coalition running. The coalition partners are not cohesive.
None too taxing is to clear the main opposition block on the road. The former Maoist rebels are a formidable force, despite a sudden exit from power.
So, how does prime minister Nepal cope with the challenges?
Is he, like many of his predecessors, lonely at the top? “No,” say close aides, “he has kept many people around him for advice and guidance”.
Official Advisers
Prime minister Nepal has six official advisers under his belt. All of them are close personal acquaintances.
Leading the list is Raghu Pant. A Nepal loyalist, the chief political adviser is a UML politburo member. He has been given a ministerial ranked position.
The former cabinet minister was press adviser to Nepal’s first elected communist prime minister, Man Mohan Adhikary, in 1995.
Pant has been assisting his boss in negotiations with own party leaders and the leaders from other parties.
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| From Top of the Left Panta, Bhattarai, Rai, Rijal and Sharma: Yes Prime Minister |
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He regularly goes to the prime minister’s office at Singh Durbar as well as the official residence at Baluwatar.
He does the drafting of most of the political speeches of the prime minister, however the PM himself gives the final touches.
Says Pant, “I have drawn from my experience and closely watched the political developments to give right advice to the prime minister.”
Bishnu Rijal is the prime minister’s press advisor. His cell phone has never stopped ringing since he took up the job a month ago.
He has the responsibility to answer all media queries about the prime minister and his activities.
Given the government secretary’s rank, Rijal was earlier editor of the UML mouthpiece, the Budhbaar vernacular weekly.
He has been closely associated with the PM for the past seven years and in the process edited a book on him.
He reaches the PM’s official residence early in the morning. By that time, the PM is almost through with major daily newspapers. But Rijal’s job is not.
He discusses controversial stories with the prime minister.“Besides being the PM’s press advisor, I also do assist him in many other areas,” he says.
He is not however oblivious of the criticism. Many say Rijal is too junior and inexperienced for the job.
Sources say, the PM is not unaware of the criticisms. He did confess as much to the UML general secretary Iswor Pokharel but he has stuck to his decision and does not seem to have any regret.
Rajan Bhattarai is the PM’s foreign affairs advisor. He normally does not go to Baluwatar except on occasions where foreign dignitaries meet the PM there.
The assistant minister-ranked advisor makes it a point to attend the PM’s Singh Durbar office regularly.
A former secretary of the UML foreign relations department, Bhattarai has a degree in international relations from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
He briefs the PM about the visiting foreign dignitaries and the issues likely to be taken up during talks with them.
Says he, “the PM does attach big importance to the meeting with foreign diplomats. He takes my advice whenever he feels it needed. We discuss the issues at great length.”
Personal secretary Yadav Sharma is a key aide of the prime minister. Unlike other advisors, he has a different kind of relations with the PM. He has been with his boss since the latter became the general secretary of the UML 15 years ago.
Sharma was with him even after he quit as general secretary after the poll debacle last year. Understandably, he has the easiest and maximum access to the PM.
He looks after the PM’s daily schedule, appointments with the visitors and even the food that the PM takes. While working out the daily schedule, he consults with the other advisors. The PM’s instructions to the government secretaries are mostly relayed through him, as does the former’s consultations with senior government officials.
Unlike others, he lives in Baluwatar in a separate apartment set aside for the private secretariat of the PM. It was the same apartment where Iswor Pokharel as political advisor to the then-UML prime minister, Man Mohan Adhikary, used to live.
The latest entry into the aides’ list is former student leader, Rajendra Rai.
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| Pokharel : Inner strategists |
Inducted as a senior expert, he has not got an office room yet. He was with Madhav Kumar Nepal during the internal tussle with K.P.Oli. He actively lobbied for making Nepal the chairman in the recently concluded party convention in Butwal.
However he failed to get himself elected as a convention delegate in the face of a campaign by pro-Jhalnath Khanal youth leaders like Yogesh Bhattarai.
He now acts as a bridge between the PM and the number of delegations that come up with different demands and grievances.
He also has the responsibility of liaising with top security officials.
Says he, “It is my duty to see to it that the prime minister does not keep a distance from the common people. I also make it sure that the people’s grievances are directly heard by the Prime Minister.”
He is little known but Nitish Poudel has a big role as a close aide of the PM. He has been a personal secretary at the PM’s private Koteshwor residence for many years.
He is mainly in charge of the family appointments of the prime minister. Naturally, he has a close access to him.
The Prime minister can appoint up to 46 persons as his advisors, experts and staff but so far appointed only one cabinet-ranked political advisor, Raghu Pant.
He roped in Yadav Sharma as special class-ranked private secretary, but the state minister-ranked principal private secretary remains vacant.
According to press advisor Rijal, “Madhav Nepal wants to keep all options open. That’s why the principal private secretary has not been filled yet.”
No Coordination
All the advisors and secretaries are supposed to give advice to the PM whenever he wants and needs it but the five key aides that he has appointed do not coordinate among themselves.
They do not hesitate in admitting this. They are not clear who should have easy and better access to the PM.
The newly appointed aide, Rajendra Rai, once jokingly wondered with another aide, Rajan Bhattarai, if they have any specific place to meet the PM and give advice to him. “If they bump into the PM on the stairs of the Singh Durbar, should they offer advice right there?”
All aides agree that principal political advisor Raghu Pant is the focal point. Being a politburo member, he can lead all the PM’s aides.
But, one aide asked, “If we are to consult with him, we will be left wondering if we are advisors of the PM or Pant?”
Being new to the office has also confused the aides. Says Bhattarai, “I am still learning. I feel that I am not aware of what I am supposed to do. I don’t think that much has been achieved over the past month.”
Pant does not see a big problem. He says, “we decide on the advice to the PM after consultations among ourselves. It's not a big issue.”
Having served as a political advisor to the then-prime minister Man Mohan Adhikary, the present party general secretary Iswor Pokharel says that the advisors should always be asking themselves whether they are in a position to offer advice to the PM.
They must maintain the dignity of the office.
Party Leaders
The PM banks on a number of leaders from own party while making key decisions. But ironically the party chairman Jhalnath Khanal is not among them.
Except on a couple of occasions to take part in formal meetings, Khanal has not even gone to see Nepal at the latter’s Baluwatar residence to give advice or suggestion.
Nepal has occasionally called Khanal up for consultations but this is very rare.
Reasoned Rijal, “being the Chairman of the party he might have felt uncomfortable visiting the Prime Minister .”
But leaders considered close to chairman Khanal are also rarely seen at Singh Durbar or Baluwatar.
Another senior leader, K.P. Oli, was frequently seen at Baluwatar until recently. But not lately. Nepal who owes a lot to him for fulfilling his dream in becoming the Prime Minister. But, sources say, Oli appears a little upset now.
He is said to be not happy with Nepal for ignoring his advice to make Bidya Bhandari home minister and keeping pro-Jhalnath Khanal Surendra Pandey as finance minister.
He is also angry that Nepal nodded Khanal’s division of responsibilities to the party leaders when he was out, in Delhi.
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| Minister Pokharel (Left) Rawal : Insider |
Press advisor Rijal says, it is not that the communication between Nepal and Oli has broken. But he admits that it is confined to phone. Direct meetings are rare.
The party General Secretary Iswor Pokharel who was seen as Khanal camp member in the recently concluded Butwal convention, is in constant touch with the prime minister.
The consultations between the two are quite frequent and intense. Rijal attributes it to Pokharel being the general secretary and former advisor to the ex-prime minister Adhikary.
Pokharel admits that Nepal does regularly consult with him both over the phone and in direct meetings.
Other frequenters at Baluwatar are party secretary and former water resources minister Bishnu Poudel and senior leader Bharat Mohan Adhikary. Nepal banks heavily on Adhikary.
Ministers Shanker Pokharel and Bhim Rawal are other leaders the prime minister looks upon for advice.
The Outside Insiders
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| Civil society : Outside insiders |
The prime minister is seriously considering to put together a group of professionals for necessary advice and suggestions. He wants to have regular interaction with professionals such as journalists, lawyers, doctors, business leaders, according to Rijal.
Already, one can see the likes of journalist Kanak Dixit, pro-UML rights activist Sushil Pyakuryal and lawyer Shambhu Thapa frequenting Baluwatar at the call of PM who is said to highly value their advice.
