<figure><img width="1982" height="1162" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015114/636d05af9c7e80680e0a5f1fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Prime Minister K P Oli enjoying a view of Kathmandu from the 11th floor of the Marriott Hotel on 21 April, in a failed attempt to patch up their differences and unite the UML party. Both now need each other, but neither is willing to compromise. Photo: SURYA THAPA / PMO</figcaption></figure>It was one of the defining images of the past year of internecine warfare among the two top leaders of the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party. 
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/its-broke-fix-it/" target="_blank" style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prime Minister K P Oli</a> (KPO) and former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal (MKN) are seen looking out over Kathmandu Valley from the 11th floor window of the Marriott Hotel on 21 April. Nepal is pointing southwards in the general direction of Singha Darbar, and the two appear to be enjoying the view together.
But the message the photo was trying to convey was deceptive. “Of the four hours over two days they were together in the hotel, they spent three-and-half hours blaming each other,” confided a Nepal aide.
KPO needed MKN’s support to save his government, but that meeting and another one on 11 May mediated by helicopter tycoon Capt Rameshwar Thapa failed to bring the two together. 
A close KPO adviser admits that the quarrel is a “जुँगाको लडाईँ”, an ego-clash between two UML alpha males which goes back two decades. When MKN led the party and was prime minister 2009-11, he would not give KPO the time of day. KPO is returning the favour.
After the UML united with the Maoist Centre in May 2018 to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) following their election victory, Prime Minister Oli was caught up in a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-communists-on-verge-of-split-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">power struggle with Pushpa Kamal Dahal</a>. Nepal’s support for Dahal bolstered his strength within the NCP, allowing him to challenge Oli’s leadership of the party and government.
“There is a trust deficit between the two leaders that has built up over the years, but essentially it is not ideological,” says a UML member in the mediation group. “It can easily be resolved if the two sit down together and find a middle ground.”
KPO has worked up rage over MKN siding with Dahal, and even supporting <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/2-ex-pms-vie-to-be-nepal-pm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sher Bahadur Deuba of the opposition</a> Nepali Congress to replace him as prime minister. Nepal was among 126 MPs to file a writ at the Supreme Court to challenge Oli’s dissolution of the House on 21 May, and to make Deuba prime minister for the fifth time.
MKN’s main gripe is that KPO was intransigent, behaved like a dictator, never listened to anyone in the party, sidelined his supporters, and even tried to overturn the constitution to get his way.
Increasingly isolated, KPO sent MKN an olive branch in May with a six-point proposal to return to a pre-unification UML Central Committee. “But even that letter had ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ and ambiguous language that aroused suspicions that Oli was out to pull a fast one again,” said Ghanshyam Bhusal of the Nepal camp.
MKN and KPO supporters met again on Thursday in a last-ditch <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/efforts-to-cobble-back-the-uml/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">attempt to patch up differences</a> with a compromise centered on whether Oli is willing to go back to the composition of the 203-member UML Central Committee before he had diluted it with 38 of his own loyalists on 16 May 2018.
This should be fairly straightforward, but KPO’s single-mindedness does not allow it. Some of Oli’s own trusted advisers admit privately that they are increasingly exasperated by the prime minister surrounding himself with yes men, and spewing out increasingly vitriolic abuse at MKN. 
A day after MKN told reporters this week that KPO has offered him prime ministership, an angry KPO retorted that he had not been bitten by a mad dog to do such a thing. The prime minister’s remark was cheered by those present, but was mocked on social media.
Pushed to the edge, and with the prospect of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-supreme-court-restores-house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a restored House</a> or elections, both Oli and Nepal find that they now need each other. But at the personal level, there seems to be just too much bad blood accumulated between the two for dozens of senior party cadres to get them to make up. 
MKN’s group was also in consultation all day  and decided not to take up KPO's invitation to join the Central Committee meeting on Friday. Said MKN loyalist Raghuji Pant: "We will not attend a meeting that was called unilaterally without consultation. But our efforts for party unity will continue. We haven't given up yet."
With <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/court-debates-nepal-pm-olis-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Supreme Court</a> deciding next week on the writ petitions, KPO is working on Plan B to cobble a majority in the House in case it is restored. For that he needs the UML to remain united with support of MKN.
Oli’s most loyal advisers Subhash Nembang and Pradeep Gyawali had opposed the prime minister’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-outraged-by-pm-oli-move/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first dissolution of the House</a> on 20 December, and since then he has not hesitated to use extreme non-constitutional methods to keep MKN out. 
Says a member of the UML mediation group: “The party will not function if we stay united, and it will be weakened if we split — either way, we are doomed. The body language of the two leaders does not indicate a desire for accommodation to save the party.”

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Making up is hard to do

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b94b49c7e80680e06f218jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1644" height="912"/><figcaption>The then chief of the NCP’s Foreign Affairs Department Madhav Kumar Nepal signed an MoU with the Chief of International Liaison Department of CPC Song Tao to formally establish fraternal relations between the two communist parties in September 2019. Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister K P Oli look on.</figcaption></figure>On 1 July 2021, Beijing will be marking the centennial of the establishment of the Communist Party of China (CPC) amidst signs that cooperation with Nepal’s communist parties may gain momentum in future.While China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles state-to-state relations, the International Department of the CPC manages relationships with fraternal parties in other countries, and there have been some high profile interactions with Nepal’s communist parties.There had been a record of <a href="https://docs.aiddata.org/ad4/pdfs/Silk_Road_Diplomacy_Report.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://docs.aiddata.org/ad4/pdfs/Silk_Road_Diplomacy_Report.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEK6hVu5OvbEqJuBpWEibpiE5N0aw">114 political visits and 15 party exchanges</a> between Chinese and Nepali communist leaders between 2000-2017, the highest number among any country in South and Central Asia. After Nepal signed the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/bri-and-trans-himalayan-connectivity/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/bri-and-trans-himalayan-connectivity/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGZUkW821vTo1iK-6jvwGytHRAVzg">Belt Road Initiative (BRI)</a> pact in 2017, the level of exchanges became even more visible.China had made no secret of preferring to deal with a single communist party in Nepal, and is thought to have encouraged the formation of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q=Dahal+oli" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q%3DDahal%2Boli&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTSclwn4ND8Zi2RhFMjwNFGilyDg">uniting the UML and the Maoist-Centre</a> in 2018, and the formation of a strong majority government.And when a power struggle between Prime Minister K P Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal threatened the NCP’s unity last year, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q=hou+yanqi" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q%3Dhou%2Byanqi&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGfo5fcvq_YXCL0ItGaTVhUB8D_CQ">Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hour Yanqi</a> actively, and quite openly, lobbied to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q=Dahal+oli" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q%3DDahal%2Boli&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTSclwn4ND8Zi2RhFMjwNFGilyDg">prevent a break-up.</a>The two ruling parties, NCP and the CPC,<a href="https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/mou-signed-between-ncp-ncp-and-cpc-establishing-bilateral-ties" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/mou-signed-between-ncp-ncp-and-cpc-establishing-bilateral-ties&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHhX27IGuTa6cxE1CEGaQKl5qiYTQ"> signed an MoU in 2019</a> to establish fraternal relations, and this allowed smoother high-level exchanges and visits. Prior to President Xi’s official visit to Nepal in October 2019, the CPC conducted a session on ‘Xi Jinping thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’ for 200 NCP leaders in Kathmandu.This raised eyebrows because it was a direct display of preference by one country’s ruling party to the ruling party in a neighbouring country, ignoring other political parties like the opposition Nepali Congress, with which the NCP only possesses a ‘sisterhood’ relationship.This visibility is the result of an increased level of engagement for sustaining Sino-Nepal cooperation. With both CPC and NCP (till recently) being ruling parties, the party-to-party relationship helped to leverage dialogue with influential political actors that can be decisive in matters of economic cooperation and in geostrategic considerations.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b94b79c7e80680e06f219jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1402" height="760"><figcaption>Prior to President Xi’s official visit to Nepal in October 2019, the CPC conducted a session on ‘Xi Jinping thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’ for 200 NCP leaders in Kathmandu.</figcaption></figure>China <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-11/07/c_138535703.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-11/07/c_138535703.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG02E3gjkKSkPBoDyHazKH_W1ZVKw">remains</a> Nepal’s main partner in foreign direct investment, and opening up new markets for Chinese goods is an important economic agenda to help keep its <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/protect-the-party-chinas-growing-influence-in-the-developing-world/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/protect-the-party-chinas-growing-influence-in-the-developing-world/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGn-aZXV3_FMO838WpahfQTWFLqgg">indebted state-owned enterprises (SOEs) afloat.</a>On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the CPC, Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal  <a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Urgrb-7nOw4XhJmSUh6XtQ" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Urgrb-7nOw4XhJmSUh6XtQ&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244648000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGiadTzq5ZmN9Svr5nCKU9MRYCZ7g">recently penned an article</a> for World Socialism Studies (世界社会主义研究) WeChat page highlighting party-to-party relations between Nepal and China as an important factor ‘to coordinate development strategies of two countries, promote and facilitate the launch of major infrastructure projects’.At the same time, <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/12/27/chinese-vice-minister-arrives-on-a-four-day-visit-to-assess-the-political-situation-in-nepal" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/12/27/chinese-vice-minister-arrives-on-a-four-day-visit-to-assess-the-political-situation-in-nepal&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH4wCZerD85xtNypimWisfQQrkGwg">high-level CPC visits </a>to help NCP to settle its internal dispute last year showed China’s strong preference for the ruling party’s stability.  This not only has strengthened party ties, but also removed constraints due to diplomatic protocol – serving as a ‘fast track’ for CPC leaders to promote its economic interests in Nepal.The CPC and NCP tie-up, although being party-to-party, therefore formed an integral part of larger bilateral ties between two countries. This is despite the CPC mandating contact with non-Communist parties as well, and fostering good working relations with all parties.After training NCP leaders on Xi Jinping Thought, China held a virtual conference with Nepal’s major parties for the first time in October 2020. Unlike the CPC-NCP ideology training, the session was mostly to ‘seek commitment from Nepali political parties’ on the Trans-Himalaya Multidimensional Connectivity Network.Similarly, a <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/asiapacific/2021-05/27/c_139971509.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/asiapacific/2021-05/27/c_139971509.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0MofYYG-vGI-TR7k4mLvHRz99og">virtual meeting</a> hosted by the CPC International Department in May on jointly combatting Covid-19 <a href="https://www.toutiao.com/i6966916194880356901/?tt_from=weixin&amp;utm_campaign=client_share&amp;wxshare_count=1&amp;timestamp=1622654934&amp;app=news_article&amp;utm_source=weixin&amp;utm_medium=toutiao_ios&amp;use_new_style=1&amp;req_id=2021060301285401021207009730193670&amp;share_token=86CEF9EC-B88A-4A1B-87D6-E0301D19C21F&amp;group_id=6966916194880356901" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.toutiao.com/i6966916194880356901/?tt_from%3Dweixin%26utm_campaign%3Dclient_share%26wxshare_count%3D1%26timestamp%3D1622654934%26app%3Dnews_article%26utm_source%3Dweixin%26utm_medium%3Dtoutiao_ios%26use_new_style%3D1%26req_id%3D2021060301285401021207009730193670%26share_token%3D86CEF9EC-B88A-4A1B-87D6-E0301D19C21F%26group_id%3D6966916194880356901&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHvfS50dq7PR10qB1QiwtS3eC_3AA">through inter-party channels</a> preceded China’s announcement of a further grant of 1 million doses. That meeting included leaders of both the UML and Maoist Centre, the Nepali Congress, the Janata Samajbadi Party, and others.The CCP started as a small meeting between 53 students and journalists in the French quarter of Shanghai in 1921, and 100 years later has gone on to become the most dominant political party in the world.The transition from a revolutionary party to a ruling party, then the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, and now its emergence as a world economic power has been shepherded by the CCP and leaders like Mao and Deng Xiaoping.With more than 90 million members, the CPC remains the absolute power and is at the center of all Chinese politics and economy. The party <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/college/coll-china-politics-002.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/college/coll-china-politics-002.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFSgHkU_0NvjkWSzvy8IxFIhBuiCg">controls and coordinates</a> all aspects of government, its people’s congress, and foreign affairs matters.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b94ba9c7e80680e06f21ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1346" height="752"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b94bd9c7e80680e06f21bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1818" height="1042"><figcaption>CPC officials and leaders of various political parties in Nepal held a joint virtual consultation on fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic on 26 May. Source: TOUTIAO</figcaption></figure>Past record shows that the CPC remains very selective in choosing its partners and seeks to enhance relations with parties <a href="https://watermark.silverchair.com/sqaa028.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAApowggKWBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggKHMIICgwIBADCCAnwGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMAyoSXFAENeE7Fc-1AgEQgIICTZ7GucTUBIfh6QToRlv0zmopkh10aCm1Ynt6JeNBbkyeW0sgZ5RD3vBfE6800WjJHaAPebtC_oeZOFym4zAK32Xql3pMHYPzsKcgdCjZBH0YjTD_Wjajh2hVlsRUUVOHED-wZ7DiTnPTAcjAerwNvxFoov-1c7TvKJtamq6tBcNX5TVYcaOG4WkyB8P6Igxrld2fsAAiEGTazP6dt6eNGwAH-hVrumHu1kJXbR4t21HBBsb9Je9sxsJQViC-qHK6XFU7ZB5J2Uy4Y95ZfMYHVambD9MND04Q7laHGH7LxxICg_vhh-B-WoMz-OW9SnQcDKNnecyHAneWxGar4FF-3lVZDXFMh1mL2WTZ5oVpds-hk77IyzuphwhJonZIWg3B4wUk1Qs35zIStlSLqZMgEx10U2-jP0x76UsPuTbf2Gjw1f34Qq151O4_NAjcRuz9Ssc0GpjQDeIRaiORxRb8p-MA02zjgNaaKqOnWFpVGmFhwqF1TUzZPn2qZXmFdKKJBCG1OPezN87IIDuXj2UFGBFIVwmrfoRjfeveakwvGrxp1RDW6OrViCLUCzknHuxiIqBc3AfVALSEZFFPAVPbu0pUNiTXqN4A-6VugGz84I6JfsUypH9ICvqHeoq1Ndm5TN278ewF5cOVFZzUGQH-S5m73EO7x56TBMmMQaqLCRdgBxCJ1CixuDUJhQIre7wqG4Qs1h4LogcWAYFv5O4N7m-1mzfsRdN7QEJ3TC4KPzgV0pqHPl6x0cm2HkuilvZeNFCfXFvfNK0sGd6wEaU" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://watermark.silverchair.com/sqaa028.pdf?token%3DAQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAApowggKWBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggKHMIICgwIBADCCAnwGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMAyoSXFAENeE7Fc-1AgEQgIICTZ7GucTUBIfh6QToRlv0zmopkh10aCm1Ynt6JeNBbkyeW0sgZ5RD3vBfE6800WjJHaAPebtC_oeZOFym4zAK32Xql3pMHYPzsKcgdCjZBH0YjTD_Wjajh2hVlsRUUVOHED-wZ7DiTnPTAcjAerwNvxFoov-1c7TvKJtamq6tBcNX5TVYcaOG4WkyB8P6Igxrld2fsAAiEGTazP6dt6eNGwAH-hVrumHu1kJXbR4t21HBBsb9Je9sxsJQViC-qHK6XFU7ZB5J2Uy4Y95ZfMYHVambD9MND04Q7laHGH7LxxICg_vhh-B-WoMz-OW9SnQcDKNnecyHAneWxGar4FF-3lVZDXFMh1mL2WTZ5oVpds-hk77IyzuphwhJonZIWg3B4wUk1Qs35zIStlSLqZMgEx10U2-jP0x76UsPuTbf2Gjw1f34Qq151O4_NAjcRuz9Ssc0GpjQDeIRaiORxRb8p-MA02zjgNaaKqOnWFpVGmFhwqF1TUzZPn2qZXmFdKKJBCG1OPezN87IIDuXj2UFGBFIVwmrfoRjfeveakwvGrxp1RDW6OrViCLUCzknHuxiIqBc3AfVALSEZFFPAVPbu0pUNiTXqN4A-6VugGz84I6JfsUypH9ICvqHeoq1Ndm5TN278ewF5cOVFZzUGQH-S5m73EO7x56TBMmMQaqLCRdgBxCJ1CixuDUJhQIre7wqG4Qs1h4LogcWAYFv5O4N7m-1mzfsRdN7QEJ3TC4KPzgV0pqHPl6x0cm2HkuilvZeNFCfXFvfNK0sGd6wEaU&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGOQ3tTXN8YXiEKydX3oM4j0-tSuQ">‘who have been in power in the past or can be expected to attain power in the future’. </a> The important takeaway from such engagements is that it allows the CPC, in particular, to shield itself against worldwide criticisms by garnering support through its party-to-party relations.Following Deng Xiaoping’s mandate of ‘uniting our friends and isolating and attacking our enemies’, the CPC seeks constant support and friendship among its party-to-party networks and also is quick to lash out against its ‘enemies’ when it needs to.In 2007, David Shambaugh in his often quoted article on ‘Quiet Diplomacy’ <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA166351069&amp;sid=googleScholar&amp;v=2.1&amp;it=r&amp;linkaccess=abs&amp;issn=02197472&amp;p=AONE&amp;sw=w" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id%3DGALE%257CA166351069%26sid%3DgoogleScholar%26v%3D2.1%26it%3Dr%26linkaccess%3Dabs%26issn%3D02197472%26p%3DAONE%26sw%3Dw&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624955244649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHRmVSlZhKjLVOQPArwBLG3Ft-rEQ">had argued</a> that the CPC’s relation with foreign parties was mostly to learn from advanced democracies, while power politics and propaganda was considered supplementary.But modern China is now stronger than it has ever been in history, and hence the reverse is more plausible. Elite party-to-party relations have become an integral component of the CPC’s foreign policy.Recently, President Xi Jinping replied to a friendly letter from foreign students at Peking University urging them to ‘understand the Chinese Communist Party in order to understand China today’. As the CPC celebrates its 100th anniversary, we can only infer that there will be further efforts to deepen party-to-party relations and exchanges in future.Inter-party relations will remain pivotal in sustaining overall Sino-Nepal relations, and could help Nepal in taking forward economic cooperation that Nepal desperately needs. Political leaders of all parties in Nepal, on the other hand, need to keep the national interest paramount and maintain a balanced relationship.Aneka Rebecca Rajbhandari is an undergraduate student in political science and  Raunab Singh Khatri is a Yenching scholar in China studies at Peking University.

One party, two countries?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109131156/636ba4269c7e80680e073652jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1025" height="741"/><figcaption>Illustration: BHANU BHATTARAI</figcaption></figure>After teetering at the brink of a split several times, the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) appears to have stepped back from the edge once more. But no one knows for how long.After the latest of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/enough-already/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/enough-already/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596452361144000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGqnTk_1mYrNh2hMm2QQ5PW_PdjGQ">numerous showdowns last week</a> during which two rival factions held parallel meetings, factions led by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/push-and-pull-of-nepali-politics/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/push-and-pull-of-nepali-politics/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596452361144000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGPV4FdiEDnv_Xew0pMnoIGcCMB_A">Prime Minister K P Oli and party co-Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal</a> appear to have decided not to let their relations deteriorate any further.They have not yet buried the hatchet, but they at least seem to be willing to smoke the peace pipe. Oli and Dahal may also have realised that the NCP itself is being harmed by a surge of negative comments on social media and op-eds about their ego-clash holding the party and country hostage at a time of multiple crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.The two leaders as well as members of their factions seem, therefore, to have retreated from the situation on 28 July in which Prime Minister Oli cancelled a scheduled Stranding Committee meeting that was to deliberate on demands for his resignation, but the Dahal faction went to Baluwatar anyway and held the meeting.The standoff in the Standing Committee appears to have woken everyone up to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ruling-party-on-verge-of-split/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ruling-party-on-verge-of-split/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596452361144000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGPS8ZkzpbL2krOvFcIw8d9e0tHBQ">real possibility of a party split</a>, which all NCP leaders (including Oli and Dahal) want to avoid at all costs. Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi seems to have got the message across <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/is-china-now-micro-managing-nepal-politics/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/is-china-now-micro-managing-nepal-politics/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596452361144000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEGBziqad0_uOtczkaFfLpMLufCBw">through her intense lobbying</a> last month that Beijing would like the party to stay united.“We have overcome a big hurdle by at least agreeing to disagree, and move forward,” said Central Committee member Kiran Gurung, one of the younger crop of leaders trying to find a compromise. “The party came very close to the edge of the cliff, and stopped itself from falling.”The Oli and Dahal factions are now said to be using the ceasefire period brokered by second tier leaders to tone down their rhetoric, and hold mediation talks through interlocutors. However, there does not seem to be a clear road map yet.There is a realisation that although it is a confrontation between two factions, it is the two co-chairs Oli and Dahal who have to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/alpha-males/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/alpha-males/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596452361144000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHWm2SdXNX7xAkXRu3UIfDO52SUDg">sort out their differences and build trust</a>. Neither side wants to believe the other because they have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/you-stab-my-back-i-stab-yours/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/you-stab-my-back-i-stab-yours/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596452361144000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHG4j_ftQj_wflHuge7M7sFfuqSEg">double crossed by each other so often.</a>“We have hit rock bottom in this party power struggle, from here there is nowhere to go but up,” says Mani Thapa, another NCP leader who is trying to broker a deal.Party insiders interviewed for this article say that NCP leader and former home minister Bam Dev Gautam’s middle of the road six-point statement on 28 July was a catalyst to reduce tension in the party. The plan would allow Oli to stay on in both posts, while meeting Dahal’s demand for election to sole party chair during the party convention.Prime Minister Oli paid Gautam a surprise visit at his residence on 29 July after he issued the statement to gauge reactions from fellow comrades to the plan. And it was Gautam and Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa’s decision to side with Oli for now that seems to have isolated Dahal.Dahal is also suspicious that Oli may pull another fast one by tempting Madhav Kumar Nepal away from his faction by dangling the carrot of party executive chair instead of him. By making himself a kingmaker in this feud, Gautam has also reportedly got an assurance of being nominated to the Upper House from where he can either be made Finance Minister in place of Yubaraj Khatiwada, or even prime minister.Gautam has a reputation for flip-flopping, but has pivoted himself into an important role in the party. Oli has reportedly expressed a desire to step down in February after the party’s unity convention in November, and this commitment appears to have brought down the temperature somewhat.Says another NCP leader Thakur Gaire: “I don’t think the differences between Comrades Oli and Dahal is so irreconcilable that the party has to split over them. The ball is now both their courts.”

Nepal ruling party pulls back from split (again)

Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigned on Wednesday following increasing coverage of and criticism over his investment in companies linked to controversial Nepali business figures Sulav Agrawal and Deepak Bhatta, who are currently under investigation for money laundering.
‘I am resigning from the position of Home Minister effective today to ensure impartial investigation into matters associated with me, and to make sure that there is no conflict of interest,’ Gurung wrote, saying that morality and public trust mattered more to him than office.
Gurung ended his message to the nation in English as he invoked the security forces, writing: &nbsp;‘For my country and For the respect of our security forces and For the youths of Nepal.’
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Gurung has become the second member to depart the Cabinet, serving for less than a month, despite the Nepali electorate’s hopes that Nepal would finally get a stable government after the RSP’s sweeping victory in the March elections.&nbsp;
Prime Minister Balendra Shah had sought clarification from Gurung on Wednesday after new details emerged about his shares in two micro-insurance companies, Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life, which are said to have been issued their licence by the Nepal Insurance Authority at the behest of Bhatta and Agrawal.
Gurung denied financial misconduct, saying that his investment in the two companies was included in his asset disclosure and insisting the misunderstanding is because of how the shares have been categorised.&nbsp;
Leaders within the RSP had called for an internal investigation into Gurung as they sought to maintain the party’s platform of clean governance and transparency. As such, Gurung’s position had become increasingly untenable, especially since former Labour Minister was sacked without being given an opportunity for clarification over a disciplinary breach involving his wife’s appointment to the Health Insurance Board.&nbsp;
On social media, Sah on Tuesday seemed to express dissatisfaction over the PM’s request for Gurung’s clarification.&nbsp;
Judging by the comments under Gurung’s resignation post, a significant part of the Nepali public seems to be firmly on Gurung’s side, blaming the mass media and what they call mouthpieces of old parties for driving him out of the Cabinet.&nbsp;
This is a reflection of his meteoric rise and the continued support he has maintained since he stepped into the spotlight as the leader of Nepal’s youth movement in the aftermath of the September protest.&nbsp;
Gurung has made headlines constantly ever since he burst onto the national stage, which includes questions over the degree of his and his organisation Hami Nepal’s involvement in the September 9 unrest, calls to divulge details behind Hami Nepal’s finances, and not paying five years of rent for an illegal lakefront property in Pokhara.&nbsp;
There have also been unsubstantiated claims, despite Gurung’s denial, about his ‘ties’ to the Free Tibet movement, which has made the Chinese— as well as Nepalis— wary.&nbsp;
As Home Minister, Gurung cultivated an image of a tough but approachabe leader, overseeing a series of high-profile arrests of previous political leadership and business figures even as he posted photos of sleeping in a sofa in his office, and engaged with the public on the streets and on social media.&nbsp;
As it stands, the Home Ministry was a bone of contention between Shah and RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane before it was awarded to Gurung, who is a close ally of PM Shah. Analysts had noted that with Gurung in charge, the Home Ministry would be a hook for Shah if Lamichhane, with his share of controversies, stepped out of line.&nbsp;
Following Gurung’s resignation, the Prime Minister’s secretariat has said that the PM would take charge of the portfolio for the time being. But it will be interesting to see if and how fresh negotiations for the Ministry unfold within RSP.&nbsp;
And with his supporter base largely intact, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this setback will have on Sudan Gurung’s political aspirations.&nbsp;

Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigns

Sudan Gurung is dancing. It is 2009. He has an emo fringe falling over one eye and is spinning on a polished floor. His dance shows dedication — moves that take years of bruised elbows to land. The clip is 16 years old, and had been sitting in the dead archives of YouTube and old Facebook pages, watched by almost nobody. This month <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@4gr4j/video/7621892206902725909">it has 1.9 million views</a>. Gurung became Home Minister on 27 March and resigned on Wednesday, barely a month into office. His<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@aayvik/video/7626069452177542408"> pre-political life had been put back into circulation</a> at industrial speed -- the b-boying, the DJ sets, and the YouTube video of him dancing in a music clip.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026042202040_71df4d531423e7c941abde95fb8106346c70ab0afb71bbeb520cc570f14ba178.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026042202040_71df4d531423e7c941abde95fb8106346c70ab0afb71bbeb520cc570f14ba178" data-rendition-name="original" width="2300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit"> </figure>  The youth of Nepal, well-versed in snappy TikTok edits and aura compilations, turned the archive into a meme economy almost overnight. TikTok remixed the footage to trap beats. The comments settled on a nickname that crossed into everyday speech within days: 'Homie Minister'. <div class="embed-block"><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@yalexthwreal/video/7622325255792512276" data-video-id="7622325255792512276" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@yalexthwreal" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@yalexthwreal?refer=embed">@yalexthwreal</a> <a title="sudangurung" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sudangurung?refer=embed">#sudangurung</a> new home minister of Nepal😎 <a title="fyppppppppppppppppppppppp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyppppppppppppppppppppppp?refer=embed">#fyppppppppppppppppppppppp</a> <a title="sudangrg" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sudangrg?refer=embed">#sudangrg</a> <a title="home" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/home?refer=embed">#home</a> <a title="minister" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/minister?refer=embed">#minister</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - •⪨н є α я т ❤н α ¢ к є я ⪩• - Music Universe 🎧" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-•⪨н-є-α-я-т-❤н-α-¢-к-є-я-⪩•-7308733170064231170?refer=embed">♬ original sound - •⪨н є α я т ❤н α ¢ к є я ⪩• - Music Universe 🎧</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script></div> As Home Minister, Gurung was in charge of the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Department of Immigration, and the country's internal security apparatus. Calling him 'homie' collapsed the distance between that office and the Discord server where the movement that brought him into power had organised itself. What is harder to explain is why the nostalgic clips did the narrative work for Gurung's political standing right up until the moment the paperwork did not. A teenager on a dance floor in a Thamel club, filmed before smartphones had decent cameras, was functioning as political currency for a powerful home minister, while a share registry was quietly filling the other column. The footage was not an argument. Gurung was not doing anything in it that related to home affairs. He was just dancing. The comments compared him to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@4gr4j/video/7621892206902725909">Korean film heroes</a>. A separate <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tandavyt7/video/7622151050128018708">48,000-like edit</a> was captioned 'Our New Home Minister Aura'. The replies were full of people saying they got chills listening to him speak. Even after his resignation, most comments on his Facebook page were supportive, saying he had been punished for pursuing truth and justice.&nbsp; Political legitimacy in Nepal has been built out of many things over the last 70 years, but it has never been built out of this. The question was always: what happens when the job starts demanding things his style, boldness, and swag cannot provide. Political aura in Nepal used to be a slow harvest, now it isn't. B P Koirala spent eight years in prison under the Panchayat. He wrote fiction at Sundari Jal. The writing survived, the prison sentences survived, and that experience became the template for what a serious Nepali politician looked like: someone the state had tried to break and failed. Legitimacy was accumulated by having their lives taken away, and refusing to bend the knee. The old mechanics of legitimacy produced politicians who could be audited. The record was made of words, dates, votes, and years behind bars. A voter who wanted to know what a leader stood for read his writings. A journalist digging for inconsistency could find it. The system was slow, often corrupt, and frequently boring. But boring was part of the job description. A minister was supposed to be slightly dull — evidence that the person was doing the unglamorous work of reading files and sitting through committee meetings. Today, boring is a disqualification. The attention economy rewards velocity and visual charge, and a politician who cannot generate either does not exist in the feed, and that means does not exist at all. The legacy parties are still issuing press statements criticising the new guard in the grammar of paper trails and procedural failure. But the audience has stopped reading, users scroll for their next viral bite. Sudan Gurung, unlike the old parties, understood exactly which grammar the feed rewarded. On his first evening as Home Minister, he posted a photo of himself sleeping on a sofa inside the ministry. Caption: creation cannot be greater than the creator, government is not above the people. The image travelled further in 12 hours than any ministerial press release has ever done.&nbsp; A minister napping on a sofa, phone-shot, zero production, read by the public as evidence of a minister who had skipped the motorcade and got straight to work. Gurung used Facebook to announce the names of former ministers and businessmen he intended to arrest. The feed was used to pre-announce state security action.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260422010456_2fa1918e1dd031d01f38b4001ee306d9414073cec0b795fa43a75cb5a8deb8c7.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20260422010456_2fa1918e1dd031d01f38b4001ee306d9414073cec0b795fa43a75cb5a8deb8c7" data-rendition-name="original" width="926" height="868" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit"> </figure>  INFLUENTIAL INFLUENCER This is not how the Ministry of Home Affairs has ever operated. It is how a YouTuber releases a series. Sudan Gurung was a political content creator. As home minister, he was an influential influencer kinetically doing something in the visual medium. Much like Prime Minister Balendra Shah's sunglasses, Gurung's aura, authenticity and swag were a brand asset, instantly recognisable at thumbnail size. Balen's rap career supplies a pre-political archive that authenticates him the same way Gurung's DJ sets and b-boying clips authenticated him. The aesthetic is doing the work a manifesto used to do. The work is authenticity, and the strategy is auramaxxing. The emo fringe predates the ministry. The DJ sets predate Hami Nepal. The b-boying predates the earthquake, the NGO, the September uprising, the interim cabinet, all of it. Whatever Gurung is now, he was already that person before the office existed. This was the real spectacle of the Homie Minister: authenticity. Nepal's youth have grown up watching heavily-polished, talking-point ministers speak in a language aimed at nobody in particular. But that grainy archival clip of the Home Minister from 2009 was honest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260422010456_5d6dff3a09e8b7e77dc60c3aa567c9e02b6bd5f90f94e20737ec05cc9a09023b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20260422010456_5d6dff3a09e8b7e77dc60c3aa567c9e02b6bd5f90f94e20737ec05cc9a09023b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit NT"> </figure>  The effect transcended GenZ. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ektapokharel/video/7623242573481561365">A TikTok trend</a> captioned NOT ONLY OUR HOME MINISTER, WE ARE ALSO FROM THAT ERA <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sonykhadka/video/7624106790266948872">has millennials posting their own</a> archive photos from the same period, aligning themselves with Gurung's pre-political aesthetic. The aura did <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@_thakuri/video/7623397397556645141">cross-generational work</a>. It was a shared legibility, spanning at least 15 years of Nepali youth culture, with the Home Minister standing at its centre.&nbsp; The traditional politician's entire adult life is a performance of identity. Every photograph is lit for the media, every statement is vetted. The persona is the product, and the product has been in development for 30 years. This makes the old guard legible but suspect in the attention economy. A generation raised on authenticity-as-currency reads the decades of careful performance as evidence of something to hide. The polish is the problem. The nostalgic Sudan Gurung party clips inverted this. The polish was absent. The footage could not be performance aimed at the viewer, because the viewer did not exist in 2009 and neither did the political stakes. The clip was therefore read as real, in a way a press conference can never be. It was just a kid dancing, and he happened to grow up to be the Home Minister. But Sudan Gurung's job was never to go viral. The Ministry of Home Affairs requires the person running it to file a complete asset declaration and to avoid holding financial interests in crony entities.&nbsp; None of that work is content. A correctly filed asset declaration does not get remixed into a trap beat. A functioning immigration database is not a TikTok. The paperwork that constitutes actual governance is structurally boring in exactly the way the old parties are structurally boring, and for the same reason. It is the slow, procedural, checkable apparatus that the old system was built to produce and that the new system has not yet learned to replace. And it is painstaking follow-the-money paper trail investigative journalists in the legacy media who uncovered the evidence. You cannot auramaxx your way out of a share registry. You cannot post your way past a conflict-of-interest statute. No amount of fire outfits and wild DJ transitions does anything for you when a journalist pulls the initial shareholder list of Star Micro Insurance and finds your name at number 49, with Rs2.5 million in shares alongside investors linked to Deepak Bhatta and Sulav Agrawal — two men currently at the centre of a Rs 3.7 billion money laundering investigation. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@blox.drop/video/7622173520981658900">Auramaxxing was engineered</a> for the mechanics of reaching office. It is the reason Sudan Gurung became Home Minister and Gagan Thapa did not. The question that had not yet been tested, until this week, was whether the same weapon works when the terrain changes. The terrain does change when you assume power. This week, the answer arrived. TWO CLOCKS Two clocks had been running, and they did not sync. The first clock was built for auramaxxing. A clip posted at eight in the morning peaked by noon. A sofa photo was remixed before the minister had left the building. The feedback loop is fast and legible, and a politician playing this clock gets real-time data on what to post next. The old guard never learned to read it, which is a large part of why they lost the election. The second clock was the one the ministry actually runs on. It measures in quarters, court calendars, and the slow grind of investigation files moving between offices. A share registry takes weeks to pull. A money-laundering case moves at the speed of the prosecutor's office, which is to say, it often does not appear to move at all, until one morning it does. The legacy mass media is fed leaks, and the second clock does not care whether the minister is currently trending. The two clocks collided this week, and the second clock got there first. Faster than anyone expected. The first clock put Gurung in the Home Ministry in weeks. The second clock put him out of it in less than a month. On Sunday evening, Diyopost and Janaastha published documents showing Gurung as a founding shareholder in Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life — companies licensed by the Nepal Insurance Authority in 2022 following what reporting identified as political lobbying by Bhatta and Agrawal. A photograph also surfaced of Hami Nepal, the NGO Gurung chairs, honouring Bhatta as a donor on 21 December 2021. Gurung's first response was auramaxxed. A Monday Facebook post distinguishing ‘rumours’ from ‘facts’, insisting the shares were disclosed within his broader Rs20 million securities portfolio, promising to cooperate with any investigation. "Allegations and truth are not the same thing," he wrote. "Decisions should be based on evidence, not sentiment." It was a coherent clip, but it did not stop the clock. By Wednesday, Prime Minister Balendra Shah had sought written clarification. Leaders within the RSP itself were calling for his resignation. The opposition Nepali Congress had framed the question as one of democratic transparency.&nbsp; Gurung resigned, posting his decision to Facebook as he did everything else. Ethics, he wrote, hold more weight than any position. There is no power greater than public trust. He ended in English, invoking ‘my country … the respect of our security forces … the youths of Nepal’. Even the exit was content. And this is the asymmetry the office exposed. A politician whose legitimacy is built on fast 30 second videos is structurally exposed to a process that runs slower than the news cycle, because the archive of aesthetic proof was not engineered to answer documentary evidence.&nbsp; It was engineered to displace the demand for documentary evidence in the first place. When that demand returns, as it always does once a politician takes office, the digital archive keeps performing, but the documents keep getting uncovered. And the two tracks do not communicate. The old guard knew this clock because they had no other clock to know. What they lost in charisma they gained in durability: a politician built over 20 years of parliamentary record is harder to dislodge with a single document because they have already survived thousands of documents. The new guard has not been stress-tested against its own paper trail. Sudan Gurung has now been tested, and the test is over, and the template has been written in his exit rather than his survival.&nbsp; A politician can enter office on the strength of a dance clip, and the same class of evidence — share registries, company filings, founding-shareholder lists at number 49 — that would have ended the career of a politician in a previous era of Nepali politics has ended his. The second clock got there. The feed did not save him. Or not entirely. Because the resignation itself is now in the feed. The Facebook post. The 46 brothers and sisters. The epic sign-off. Within hours of stepping down, Gurung had already re-enrolled his exit into the same register that put him in office. The clip of the Home Minister dancing in 2009 is still in circulation. The sofa photo still reads as sincerity. The investigation into the micro-insurance shares will move at the speed of Nepal's prosecutor's office, which is to say, at a speed the feed has long since outrun. The movement that installed Gurung in the name of ending elite capture has had its answer about whether its own hero is subject to the same audit it demanded of everyone else. He walked — or was walked — before the audit ran its course. The resignation was framed as moral choice rather than forced exit, and the framing is already winning. Whether that framing holds is the next test. Auramaxxing, it turns out, is a weapon that works in one direction only: it got him the job, and when the documents arrived, it did not save him. But it may yet save the person. These are not the same thing. If the technique is wounded, it is not yet dead. The next Nepali politician with a pre-political archive and a phone is watching how Gurung exits, not just how he entered. And the answer is: you exit the same way you entered: on Facebook. In your own voice. Before anyone else writes the caption. Whether he comes back is the thing to watch. Whether the technique does is already decided. &nbsp; &nbsp;

When Aura meets Audit

At 6 feet and one inch, Hira Bahadur Ghalan was exceptionally tall for a Nepali. In 1936, when people came to his Tamang village near Tistung looking for porters, they recruited him on the spot. This was no ordinary job, Hira Bahadur would lead gangs of 30 or more porters to carry cars bought by Rana rulers from Bhimphedi to Kathmandu.&nbsp; Those were the days when the only motorable roads in Nepal were in Kathmandu, but the capital was not connected to anywhere else by road. So, before cars could carry people, people had to carry cars. More Nepalis had carried cars than ridden in one. The porters were paid Rs5 for the job, and sometimes the Rana owners gave Hira Bahadur a Rs25 baksheesh. One of the cars his community helped carry was a 1939 Daimler Benz gifted by Adolf Hitler to King Tribhuvan to woo Nepal away from the British. The rusted dusty vehicle is now in the Narayanhiti Palace Museum.&nbsp; Hira Bahadur hauled cars for 25 years until his knees gave way, he died at age 90 eight years ago — the last surviving car porters of Nepal from Chitlang Valley.&nbsp; Hira Bahadur Ghalan had three sons and three daughters, one of them is Maila Kaji Lama, who at age 68, is a chauffeur in Kathmandu. His son, Manjil Lama is a pilot with Summit Air, flying to remote Himalayan airstrips. Three generations of one family worked in professions that followed a century of transportation history in Nepal. &nbsp; After the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-long-and-winding-road-to-india">Tribhuvan Rajpath was finished in 1957</a> and the ropeway upgraded, Hira Bahadur was out of a job. He tilled the family farm, watching trucks and buses headed to and from Kathmandu on the hairpins.&nbsp; As a child, Maila Kaji was fascinated by cars and wished one day to be able to drive one. After he failed Grade 8, he came to Kathmandu in 1975 and got a Rs20/month job at a petrol station in Maiti Devi. “I watched King Birendra’s coronation and was impressed by the glamour of Kathmandu, and decided to stay here,” Maila Kaji says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041816040_a1a41e47dec8500727702f700e43af625f059043cbcd283f13b247344b3a20aa.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026041816040_a1a41e47dec8500727702f700e43af625f059043cbcd283f13b247344b3a20aa" data-rendition-name="original" width="1974" height="1608" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> <figcaption>Maila Kaji</figcaption> </figure>  Former minister Ramesh Nath Pandey used to bring his Volkswagen Beetle to the station, and Maila Kaji started taking care of his car. Later, he drove a Russian Jeep for former minister and geographer Harka Gurung. Along the way, he fell in love with the daughter of a Brahmin colleague, and married her. “My father back in Tistung did not approve of our inter-ethnic marriage, and not speak to me for five years,” Maila Kaji recalls. Manjil Lama grew up in Kathmandu, and did well in science in school. He had wanted to go the US to become a pilot like his friends, but was denied a visa.&nbsp; “The visa officer told him I did not earn enough,” says Maila Kaji, “so I sold some property and sent Manjil to flying school in the Philippines.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041816040_e9091162840baa6d182de2d7cc6f09e43ec9cfd9a9b6e71e7e7b14bc72da3537.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026041816040_e9091162840baa6d182de2d7cc6f09e43ec9cfd9a9b6e71e7e7b14bc72da3537" data-rendition-name="original" width="1434" height="1754" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> <figcaption>Manjil Lama</figcaption> </figure>  After returning to Nepal, Manjil Lama now flies Let 410s of Summit Air to difficult air strips like Lukla and Simkot, and has logged over 2,000 hours. He has to go to the Czech Republic regularly for simulator training. Says Maila Kaji Lama: “My father worked hard carrying cars to raise us, I started from scratch to become a driver to support my family, and my son is now a pilot with experience in flying in the world’s toughest terrain.” &nbsp; Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvT3iTi8yw4" target="_blank">video clip from S Dillon Ripley here</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260419020448_40f8b1bdaace08106ca5c24819b6e7a34fb2109a9a3ec5c6ac179b3309e686ed.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20260419020448_40f8b1bdaace08106ca5c24819b6e7a34fb2109a9a3ec5c6ac179b3309e686ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="900" height="1582" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> </figure>

Grandfather carried cars, son drives cars, grandson flies planes

Only 70 years ago, Kathmandu was the isolated capital of a country that had no modern surface transport link with the rest of the world.&nbsp; The idea of building a road to connect Nepal with India actually first came up during the last years of the Rana regime, after the British had left India. Construction actually began in 1952, and the serpentine route took five years to complete.&nbsp; Named Tribhuvan Rajpath, after the reigning king who initiated it, the alignment was from Thankot (1,301 m) at the western edge of the Kathmandu Valley to Nagdunga, Naubise, Tistung, Palung, Daman, Sim Bhanjyang (2,504m), Lamidanda, and Bhainse.&nbsp; At Bhainse, the highway joined the existing road to Bhimphedi and it was another 31km to Hetauda and Amlekhganj. There was a railway line between Amlekhganj and Birganj.&nbsp; After regular bus and truck service from Raxaul to Kathmandu began in 1961, the entire road popularly became known as the Tribhuvan Rajpath.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_a11b48a75c7877a0f68634f8be07d26a3f354e78ebd9adddc7d17252fddf1d1b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026041610044_a11b48a75c7877a0f68634f8be07d26a3f354e78ebd9adddc7d17252fddf1d1b" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="3072" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>The village of Chitlang on the main route to Kathmandu before the Rajpath was built. In the distance is the Chandragiri ridge above Thankot. Photo: DAN EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  <h2>Chronology&nbsp;</h2> (Based on US State Department cables and media reports) November 1945: Gen Bahadur SJB Rana asked an American official if a road could be constructed from the Indian border to Kathmandu. Nepal wanted such a road built across the mountains after first constructing an East-West artery road in the Tarai, and the government was interested in purchasing US surplus war equipment. Gen Rana inquired if there were US firms who could conduct a survey. April 1947: The Nepal government told a US official it was important to upgrade the 20-mile trail from Bhimphedi over the mountains to the Kathmandu Valley into an all-weather road and sought an estimate from the US for doing so. May 1948: Bijaya SJB Rana informed a US official that a survey for a one-lane motor road between Kathmandu and the Tarai had been completed. The road was to follow the Bagmati River to Makwanpur, then connect at Bhimphedi with the road to Amlekhgunj. The road from Tripureswor to Bhainse along the Bagmati River and via Bhimphedi would have been about 60km. (The distance from Kathmandu on the Tribhuvan Rajpath is 122 km.)  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_bb531baf5d73e00d2032814ac8abb86979a87d781abc066fcb984997aad930e6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026041610044_bb531baf5d73e00d2032814ac8abb86979a87d781abc066fcb984997aad930e6" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="3072" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>The road climbing the hills toward its destination of Kathmandu. Photo: DAN EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  July 1948: The government decided to go ahead and build a motorable road from Amlekhganj to Thankot and complete it in two years. December 1948: Construction of the motor road from Kathmandu to Amlekhgunj via the Bagmati River corridor was started. April 1949: Gen Singha SJB Rana told a US official that the motor road from Kathmandu to the Tarai and the Indo-Nepal border would be completed by the spring of 1950. February 1950: Nepal sanctioned Rs300,000 to make the 6-foot-wide road from Kathmandu along the Bagmati River to Hetauda. Of this, Rs100,000 was allocated for road-building material and machinery. Subsequently, the road would be developed into a broader motorable road at a cost of Rs7.5 million. February 1952: Nepal’s budget speech noted that a plan was underway for a road between Bhainse and Kathmandu. PM Matrika Prasad Koirala laid a foundation stone near Teku for construction of the ‘Kathmandu Hetauda Roadway’.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_e66d3b81848ec19da48be8b41cacfa8b8e2bad093719b39eda27755c9616ea9a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026041610044_e66d3b81848ec19da48be8b41cacfa8b8e2bad093719b39eda27755c9616ea9a" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="3072" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>Rajpath winding its way north of Bhainse. Photo: DAN EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  February 1952: A party of Indian engineers came to Nepal to determine the best route for a road from Raxaul to Kathmandu. March 1952: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told Parliament: “So far as India’s security is concerned, we consider the Himalayan mountains as our border.” Ministry of External Affairs official (S.N. Hakar) told a US official that the Indian government was willing to proceed with constructing the Raxaul-Kathmandu road and had sent a survey party to determine the most suitable mountain route. May 1952: Swiss experts had made surveys for a proposed new road between Bhimphedi and Thankot. Nepal government requested financial help to build the road, and India was considering the project.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_35e390c1a4812f45af7892d681230e04c63727d9006b6614ed79aaa7c22c1ece.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2026041610044_35e390c1a4812f45af7892d681230e04c63727d9006b6614ed79aaa7c22c1ece" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="3072" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>With a constant stream of trucks, buses and jeeps, the narrow Rajpath once was Nepal's busiest highway. Photo: DAN EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  Summer 1952: Work on a new road was at a standstill, so Nepal asked India for assistance. Indian engineers surveyed two routes: one following the Bagmati River, the other road through Daman that was later adopted. July 1952: Nepal’s Ministry of Planning decided to construct a road between Kathmandu and Raxaul, awaiting Cabinet approval soon. Prime Minister Matrika Koirala said the proposed road was longer than necessary, but it was a better route ‘for strategic reasons’, because it did not require many bridges. August 1952: King Tribhuvan said road construction from Kathmandu to Bhimphedi would “begin soon”. September 1952: An Indian Military Team began construction of the Kathmandu-Bhainse road without a formal agreement being signed with the Nepal government.&nbsp; February 1953: The Indian Ambassador said the road would be hard surfaced within a year. September 1953: Prime Minister Matrika Koirala inspected the completion of a ‘jeepable track’. December 1953: The road was named ‘Tribhuvan Rajpath’. April 1954: Reports circulated that Swiss engineers criticised the alignment, arguing it would have been easier, faster, and cheaper to build over the existing foot trail between Bhimphedi and Thankot through Kulekhani. July 1954: Heavy monsoon rain damaged much of the roadway that had been built.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_b5b2a1833f1366e532f1629f47c124d877df7b6f8a34b6c83f6c21ec3e4415dd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2026041610044_b5b2a1833f1366e532f1629f47c124d877df7b6f8a34b6c83f6c21ec3e4415dd" data-rendition-name="original" width="855" height="1123" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>Crown Prince Mahendra inspecting construction progress on the Tribhuvan Rajpath in October 1954. Photo: ROYAL PALACE</figcaption> </figure>  November 1954: The Indian ambassador said flood damage was so great that the road would be delayed by two years. May 1955: Twenty military trucks brought rice from Amlekhganj to Kathmandu on the Tribhuvan Rajpath. King Tribhuvan died in Zurich. December 1956: A gravel road was completed, with trucks and buses plying between Amlekhganj and Kathmandu. December 1956: Nepal government abolished regulations that required Nepali nationals to carry permits for travel within Nepal, except for women below the age of 45. 1957: Reduction in price of goods carried to Kathmandu by truck: Sugar, Rs0.13 per kg. Wheat flour Rs0.13 per kg. Kerosene Rs0.25 per litre. February 1957: An article in The Motherland newspaper in Kathmandu noted urgent action was needed to avoid Kathmandu being cut off from the Tarai during the monsoon. The correspondent wrote, ‘In a recent journey from Amlekhganj I found that almost all the bridges are in a very bad state…Now, because of the dry rivers the scores of vehicles that ply the road cross the rivers on the water level. But during monsoons… these rivers will be impossible to cross without bridges. On the road itself, landslides and big holes have made the journey a great undertaking.” April 1957: The first regular passenger bus left Amlekhganj at 12:30PM and arrived in Kathmandu completing a journey of 14 hours.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_60807e067f2d0b80bdc5e59860e9bc240b495ef606efc9301ef54ea5731d42df.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2026041610044_60807e067f2d0b80bdc5e59860e9bc240b495ef606efc9301ef54ea5731d42df" data-rendition-name="original" width="5211" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>Daman, one of the highest points on the Rajpath, often saw snow in winter. Photo: DAN EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_baac4747267c751ab7b0e5ef24697fb5001c4c55e04a82d92c89282bd01a325c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2026041610044_baac4747267c751ab7b0e5ef24697fb5001c4c55e04a82d92c89282bd01a325c" data-rendition-name="original" width="648" height="960" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>Travelers could view the Himalayas from a view tower at Daman. Photo: DAN EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  June 1957: Eight thousand Nepali workers and about 500 Indian Army personnel were at work on the road.&nbsp; 30 June 1957: India officially handed the road over to Nepal. India had spent INR32.5 million on the project.&nbsp; January 1958: The road from Amlekhganj to Bhainse was upgraded. July 1961: The gravel road from Raxaul to Birganj was blacktopped. Trucks began transporting goods from Raxaul directly to Kathmandu, avoiding the need for transshipment from train to truck in Amlekhganj, or use the ropeway from Bhimphedi. 1961: Passengers could travel from Raxaul to Kathmandu in a day, whereas it took a week by train to Amlekhganj, bus to Bhimphedi and then on foot. September 1962: Nepal’s 3-Year Plan aimed at broadening and black-topping the road between Bhainse and Raxaul, bypassing the Chure tunnel, and constructing several bridges along the route. 1963: Travelers going to Kathmandu by land: Road, 158,000, Nepal Government Railway, 66,500. Railway passenger service ended in June 1965.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_2a95eb144dad74271a0fa3a27fab6b45bbab0a1c4be59d21120ad14c08e258fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2026041610044_2a95eb144dad74271a0fa3a27fab6b45bbab0a1c4be59d21120ad14c08e258fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1344" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>A bus providing ‘deluxe service’ in 1963 is ready to leave Amlekhganj for Kathmandu. Note the railway tracks of the Nepal Government Railway. Photo: RON ELLIOTT</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_d02013692e84d6add7a6e0ce66c2b552cd53bb084db2aa8df0593bbcf84c2c04.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2026041610044_d02013692e84d6add7a6e0ce66c2b552cd53bb084db2aa8df0593bbcf84c2c04" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1352" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>Vehicles found it difficult to pass on many parts of the Rajpath in 1963. Photo: RON ELLIOTT</figcaption> </figure>  1965: Tribhuvan Highway was considered a useful addition to Nepal’s economic infrastructure, but it could not act as a prime mover in the nation’s economic development. It did play a major role in the 1960s in transporting material and equipment needed to implement development projects in the Kathmandu Valley. September 1966: Nepal took over maintenance of the Tribhuvan Rajpath from the Indian Aid Mission.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_5488ba1e92f6395ff882392ccbaef2270622632682eccb412d8de7b128f6f397.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2026041610044_5488ba1e92f6395ff882392ccbaef2270622632682eccb412d8de7b128f6f397" data-rendition-name="original" width="1764" height="1184" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>Trees still lined the Rajpath near Thankot in 1967. Photo: DAN EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  1971: A UN-Nepal study said the best alignment for an alternative road was from Kathmandu, Pharping, Kulekhani, Bhimphedi to Bhainse. 1975: Nepal's Department of Roads’ engineer concluded: ‘The Tribhuvan Rajpath has been built without design speed consideration… The pavement was not constructed to any designed standard… irrespective of quality of material, and later the road was black topped without consideration of traffic intensity and load-bearing capacity of sub-base… utilisation of low-quality material in the Bhainse-Thankot section… Quality control was neither maintained in Bhainse-Thankot nor the Bhainse-Raxaul section. Local materials were used irrespective of their quality to complete the work in the earliest possible time and in the cheapest possible manner. Brick work was done in negligible quantity. Cement used was ordinary portland cement…’ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041610044_26c74f45991efb3dc29d616e8acafb3163661ae6573c5314538e59c54d5ca0a5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2026041610044_26c74f45991efb3dc29d616e8acafb3163661ae6573c5314538e59c54d5ca0a5" data-rendition-name="original" width="2368" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="Highways NT"> <figcaption>Bhainse in 2017. The road divided here, one going to Bhimphedi on the right, the main road proceeding to Kathmandu on the left. Photo: DAN EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260416100416_4d9321abf4d912796842fe963a493501e1aceff462300ecdd9bd5e0b8ba7f294.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20260416100416_4d9321abf4d912796842fe963a493501e1aceff462300ecdd9bd5e0b8ba7f294" data-rendition-name="original" width="649" height="1667" loading="lazy" alt="Highway info NT"> </figure>  Even 70 years after it was built, there is still speculation about India's security concerns vis-a-vis China, and how Indian Army engineers purposely made the road longer than it needed to be over the 2,500 Sim Bhanjyang pass instead of following the river route.&nbsp; There is also some evidence that although the Rana regime had first requested the US for help with the highway, Nehru did not want the Americans involved in Nepal. Which is why the Tribhuvan Highway became an Indian military project.&nbsp; There was similar concern from India about the Kodari Highway linking Kathmandu to China, and King Mahednra is famously supposed to have said: "Communism will not come here in a taxi."&nbsp; Geopolitics still affects Nepal's strategic highways. After decades, links to China are still rough and often blocked. Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track is delayed by years, and not expected to be completed during this decade. Trucks and buses still bypass the Tribuvan Highway with a 200km detour via Mugling because the other alternative routes like the Tika Bhairav or Chhaimale routes are not suitable for heavy vehicles.&nbsp; The shortcut through Chitlang that the Swiss proposed in the 1950s is still too difficult. And a 25km section of the Japanese-built BP Highway to the eastern Tarai has been knocked out by the 202 flood. Dan Edwards was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1966 and is the author of several books on Nepal. This is the fourth instalment in a new limited series in Nepali Times on the historic transportation infrastructures of Nepal.