China influences Nepal's coalition breakup
Chinese influence" may have played a role in encouraging the Leftist unity in Nepal with PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' dropping the Nepali Congress as its partner and form an alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN)-UML led by K P Sharma Oli.
The year-long Nepali Congress and Prachanda-led CPN (Maoist Centre) coalition collapsed on Monday, with Prachanda joining hands with the CPN-UML to revive the «Left alliance». Thereafter, Prachanda reshuffled his cabinet to include ministers from the Communist party and created an eight-point programme to run Nepal.
Despite contesting the elections in a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, Prachanda became the Prime Minister on December 26, 2022, with the UML's support. But the partnership could not last long after his party decided to support the Nepali Congress in the presidential election. The UML had pulled out of the government on February 27 last year, and Prachanda and Nepali Congress joined hands to form the government.
India is keeping a close watch on the unfolding developments in Nepal where it has huge stakes. Prachanda, in his third term as the PM, has been mindful of India's strategic interests and did not compromise on New Delhi's core requirements at China's behest.
Prachanda reportedly was upset with the performance of his finance minister Prakash Sharan Mahat who belonged to the Nepali Congress. Nepali Congress chief and former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba was reluctant to replace Mahat, who had strained relations with the PM.
Besides these factors,
