We are happy that our Balen government has decided not to have tons of ministers as in the previous ones and are doing their job well with only 15 ministers in place. But the recent development of who gets to seat where during the cabinet meeting has baffled some of us.
This reminds me of the days when the Ranas were in the building and one Rana Prime Minister woke up one day and decided to divide his brothers and kins according to their mothers and what not, with the 'A' Class and the rest. Well, it might seem too far-fetched to call it the same today but the new order of precedence or the new seating chart arrangement in the Baen cabinet is not only juvenile but is the talk of the town for the moment.
Balen Shah is numero uno in the cabinet. He is the Prime Minister. The new ranking does not affect our Finance Minister, Mr. Wagle but Sudan Gurung is now ranked fifth in the seating chart, demoted from the third with the Foreign and Energy Minister ahead of him.
I don't know if Balen and Rabi are trying to balance each other, but the media is having a field day with the new 'Maryada Kram' in Balen's cabinet. I don't really get it why ego has to come into play and the old school RSP wallahs were not happy with Sudan getting the third place in the so-called order of precedence earlier.
I think after the PM and the Finance Minister, the Home Minister has a bigger responsibility than the Energy or Foreign Minister. The media tells us that this is just to make Rabi happy. Well, I don't know what led to this new seating chart but I hope the Balen government focuses on what they are doing right now instead of trying to balance the old school RSP with the newbies.
Biraj Bhakta Shrestha is a clean person but his marriage to Sarat Singh Bhadari's daughter would not have made any difference if he were not a Minister. RSP didn't have a bigger slice of the pie in the previous governments but now it is the majority government and in time, if Sarat Singh Bhandari does not go to jail for amassing billions of Rupees from his stint as a Minister in previous governments, then Biraj's political career and even RSP's clean image will take a beating or two.
Sudan Gurung never really thought he would be the Home Minister. Rabi wanted DP while Balen wanted his friend but when both could not agree on who would take the Home Ministry, Balen decided to propose Sudan's name to fill the position for now. Both agreed and Sudan has managed to work his arse off and has taken a courageous stand to do what no Home Minister has ever dared to do in the past three decades, that is, to arrest a former Prime Minister.
Oli and Lekhak will be home while still under investigation but Sudan Gurung has fulfilled his promise to the Gen Z martyrs' families that he would arrest the ones who were in power during the Gen Z massacre. Will our courts find them guilty in the coming days? We don't know but most of us now know that as long as the Balen government is in power, no one will be above the law.
Well, the old political parties and the corrupt media wallahs are predicting or wishing for a breakup between Balen and Rabi in the coming days. Hope it won't happen, and they both will find common ground when it comes to who gets the cabinet berth, and even when it comes to appointing our Ambassadors, as most of them will be home in a month.
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image credit: Setopati