As the government completes 100 days in office, some leaders from its major coalition partner, the Nepali Congress, have started to comment on the government’s performance—often unfavourably.

Remarks by some key Congress leaders, particularly by senior Congress leader Shekhar Koirala, have alarmed a section of the governing parties. Congress is the largest party in the government led by KP Sharma Oli of the CPN-UML.

Koirala, who contested for the post of party president and got defeated by Sher Bahadur Deuba three years ago, leads the anti-establishment faction in the party.

Koirala has been raising critical questions against the government’s wrongdoings, causing apprehension among those in government. At times, he has even taken a stance against the government’s moves.

For instance, Prime Minister Oli and Energy Minister Dipak Khadka are at loggerheads with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Managing Director Kul Man Ghising over whether or not to disrupt power supply to the companies defaulting in paying the NEA’s bills.

In this prolonged dispute, Koirala has supported Ghising, who is backed by the main opposition, the CPN (Maoist Centre).

Koirala was once a proponent of the Congress-UML coalition when Maoist Centre ditched the Congress to join hands with UML. He also played a role in forging an alliance with the UML to form a provincial government led by a Congress lawmaker in Koshi.

Observers say that his latest stances are part of his strategy to present himself as a strong candidate for the party president in the next general convention, which should be held by the end of 2025 in accordance with the party statute.

“It is possible that he is trying to establish himself as the main contender of the party leadership for the next convention, making the party rank and file believe that no other leaders can give alternatives to the party other than him,” Rajesh Gautam, a historian who has written multiple books on Congress, told the Post.

As party president Sher Bahadur Deuba has already announced not to contest for the top post in the general convention, second-rung Congress leaders have already started making assumptions about the next leadership.

Koirala, who lost to Deuba by a small margin for the party’s top post in 2021, is considered an untested leader because he hasn’t taken any key position in the party and has not even become a minister so far.

Party leaders close to Koirala say that he was making comments based on the merit of the government’s performance.

They say that by making such comments, Koirala has been trying to bring the government on the right track when it fumbles. Sometimes, he might seem harsh towards the government, but that is aimed at correcting the coalition and not toppling it, they argue.

“Before Congress-UML came together to form the government, Koirala was one of the leaders who had advocated for the coalition of the two biggest parties,” Govindaraj Pokharel, a Congress leader close to Koirala, told the Post. “Therefore, as the proponent of the present coalition, he might have thought it was his moral duty to question the government if it cannot live up to its promise.”

But Gautam differs.

The performance of the government is below par and even the layman can find faults in its functioning, Gautam says.

The Congress-UML government was formed in July based on a seven-point agreement, and its basic duty is to work to fulfill it. When the government deviates from its promised objectives to other issues, Pokharel says, Koirala sometimes becomes critical of the government to remind it of its objectives.

In the recent party programme held on October 10, Koirala mentioned the three areas where the government had unnecessarily poked its nose: by not allowing the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) chief Kul Man Ghising to work as per his plan, by trying to unseat the Deputy Speaker Indira Magar Rana, and by planning to issue an ordinance related to Political Parties.

Pokharel argues that Koirala has supported the government’s right move. When the government decided to constitute a high-level commission to recommend reforms to revitalise the ailing economy under the leadership of former finance secretary Rameshwar Khanal, Koirala welcomed it, Pokharel says.

Apart from that, he adds, Koirala never criticised the government when it decided to take the tasks of the peace process ahead, pay the due amounts of sugarcane farmers, or form a committee to revitalise the country's tourism sector. However, the wrong act of the government should be questioned, and even though he is a leader from the coalition partner and he is not mincing words, Pokharel says.

Jeevan Pariyar, a Congress joint general secretary, also says that Koirala's opinion on holding the government accountable should not be misinterpreted.

“However, the government is still to fulfill its promises,” Pariyar told the Post.

Two days ago, the government decided to provide free cancer treatment for children below 14 years of age at government hospitals. Pariyar describes it as a latest example of the positive initiatives taken by the government.

Minister for Health and Population Pradip Paudel decided on Sunday to provide free cancer treatment for children below 14 years of age at Kanti Children’s Hospital, Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital and BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital Bharatpur.

There is no point in getting disappointed by the government since it has only completed 100 days, Pariyar says.

However, some Congress leaders think the government is not working as per their expectation.

In Monday’s meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee under the House of Representatives, Congress lawmaker Hirdayaram Thani raised several questions to Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, a Congress leader, about the home ministry’s performance.

“Where has the investigation on the irregularities on Giri Bandhu tea estate reached?” Thani questioned Home Minister Lekhak. The Giri Bandhu land scam is linked to Prime Minister Oli and Congress, which officially made its position clear through its parliamentary party meeting on May 14 and demanded an investigation into the decision-making process of the land swap permit. Thani also asked the home minister why investigations on various other corruption scams weren’t moving ahead satisfactorily.

Pokharel, the Congress leader, says questioning the government does not mean the Congress leader does not favour this coalition government.

“The duty of leaders who are representing the party in the government is to do better work,” Pokharel says. “It is also the duty of leaders out of the government to question it to make it accountable to the people.”