CPN (UML), the main coalition partner, has staked a claim for the posts of Nepali ambassadors to influential countries like America, the United Kingdom (UK) and India.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and UML Chairman KP Oli are holding discussions on the allocations of ambassadorial posts after the government recalled ambassadors from 11 countries.
The other coalition partners – CPN (Maoist Center), Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), CPN (Unified Socialist), and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) – are also demanding their share of the ambassadorial pie.
The government on June 6 had recalled 11 ambassadors – six from Nepali Congress, two from Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, two from Unified Socialist, and one from Nepal Samajbadi Party led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai.
Those recalled ambassadors are the Nepali Ambassador to India, Dr Shankar Prasad Sharma, Gyanchandra Acharya (UK), Shridhar Khatri (America), Salin Nepal (Portugal), Kanta Rijal (Israel) and Prof. Dr. Jyoti Pyakurel from South Africa. They were appointed under the NC quotas.
Similarly, Ambassadors Ram Swartha Raya (Denmark) and Sharmila Dhakal (Spain), who had been appointed under the JSP-N quotas, have been recalled.
Likewise, Naresh Bikram Dhakal (Qatar) and Dilli Raj Paudel (Malaysia) from the Unified Socialist quotas and Nawaraj Subedi (Saudi Arabia) from the NSP quota have been recalled.
Those appointed under the Maoist Center quota are working relentlessly.
UML demands 8 ambassadors
UML has demanded ambassadors to eight countries including six who were appointed under the Congress quotas and have been recalled recently.
Oli wants to re-appoint the ambassadors who were recalled by the then government led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on September 21, 2021.
At that time Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada (America), Nilambar Acharya (India), Lokdarshan Regmi (UK), Dawaphuti Sherpa (Spain), and Anjan Shakya (Israel) had been appointed ambassadors from the UML quota.
Among them, Shakya has been nominated as a member of the National Assembly. It is yet to be decided who Oli will send in place of Shakya. However, in place of Nilambar Acharya, Oli is likely to put forward the name of Dr. Rajan Bhattarai this time, sources have said.
However, after calling them back, the Congress-Maoist coalition government appointed ambassadors in 11 countries.
RSP, Unified Socialist, and JSP, a splinter of the JSP-N, parties have also demanded their share of the ambassadorial pie.
When will the ambassadors be appointed?
Although the posts of ambassadors to influential countries should not be kept vacant for a long time, there is little possibility that these posts will be fulfilled immediately. Prime Minister Prachanda is not in the mood to discuss the appointment of the ambassadors without passing the budget.
