Panchai Ho Yo desha banai deu !!!
(Read : Yo desh Khattamn Pari deu!!)

The great song of the 1960s!!

The Natak of reshuffle / expansion of cabinet is to provocate the political parties and ultimately Impose Military rule....within this year.

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Cabinet expansion: No room for reconciliation? (News analysis)

By including staunch royalists, some of them with controversial past, in his 24-member Council of Ministers, His Majesty King Gyanendra has effectively shut down door for national reconciliation, critics said.

During the third expansion in more than five months since he took over, His Majesty chose four new ministers in the cabinet including time-tested Badri Prasad Mandal, former communist Salim Miya Ansari, former Congressman Prakash Koirala and a staunch royalist Niranjan Thapa.

President of terai-based Nepal Sadbhavana Party, Mandal was the deputy prime minister in the Lokendra Bahadur Chand-led government formed after the October 2002 royal move. A former CPN (UML) minister, Ansari had quit the UML to float his own political outfit?Samajbadi Party Nepal (Socialist Party Nepal).

Son of veteran Nepali Congress leader and first popularly elected Prime Minister B P Koirala, Prakash Koirala was expelled by Nepali Congress recently from the ordinary membership of the party ?for supporting the Feb. 1 royal takeover.?

A lawyer and chairman of Law Reforms Commission, Niranjan Thapa, was the minister of state for home during the last Panchayat government led by Marich Man Singh. He is known his controversial role in suppressing the peaceful ?jana andolan? (pro-democracy movement) in 1990.

Interestingly, most of the eight assistant ministers who have found berth in the royal cabinet are not only political light-weights but also have controversial backgrounds. Assistant Minister Jagat Gauchan, who have been assigned all important Ministry for Physical Planning and Works that oversees billions rupee Melamchi Drinking Water Project?was convicted for assassination attempt of journalist Padam Thakurathi during the Panchayat era. He was released later after serving jail term. Gauchan is known as a lieutenant of Sharad Chandra Shaha?a hardliner, believed to be one of the most influential advisors to His Majesty.

Former member secretary of Nepal Sports Council, Shah had left Nepal after the 1990 political changes. He currently holds the post of vice chairman of Information Technology Commission and was in the news recently for his Delhi trip to meet senior Indian officials after the royal takeover.

According to Kantipur daily, a corruption case is pending at the Supreme Court against newly appointed Assistant Minister Senate Shrestha. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed the case against Shrestha for his alleged role in the fertilizer import scam. Home Minister in the royal cabinet, Dan Bahadur Shahi, who was then Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry?is also co-accused in the scam.

Assistant Minister Niksha Shumsher JB Rana is believed to have been rewarded for carrying out rallies in the capital in support of the monarchy. Chairman of `Rastriya Ekata Parishad,? Rana advocated for absolute monarchy even before the Feb. 1 royal takeover.

?Even moderate former Panchas have not found any role in the expanded cabinet,? wrote The Kathmandu Post daily. ?With this cabinet expansion, the king has virtually shutdown the doors for any rapprochement with political parties in the near future,? the daily added.

Vice chairman in the council of ministers, Dr. Tulsi Giri retained his berth despite hogging headlines for being blacklisted by a public sector bank for failing to pay back his loan in time. Earlier, their were rumours that he had resigned from his post which he promptly refused.

The latest cabinet expansion has come at a time when the international community, including the US, UK, India and the UN, have been urging His Majesty King Gyanendra to open dialogue with the agitating political parties and reach out to them. But the expanded cabinet is least likely to contribute towards that end.

The opposition parties have been demanding roll back of the Feb. 1 royal takeover and handing over power to representatives of major political parties, among others.

Critics say the expanded cabinet is least likely to fulfill the royal pledge to improve law and order, control corruption and improve service delivery.

Even the royalists have been taken aback looking at the faces included in the expanded cabinet. ?This cabinet will become a liability to the King, rather than an asset,? a staunch royalist told Nepalnews Friday on condition of anonymity. neaplnews.com by July 15 05