Political forces unite amid rising royalist movement for monarchy restoration

KATHMANDU: As royalist forces begin to unite, the major political parties are growing increasingly concerned and drawing closer together.

In an effort to strengthen the movement for the restoration of the monarchy, royalist forces have started to consolidate their efforts.

To protect the current system, major parties are also seeking to collaborate.

Amid preparations to demonstrate power against the republican forces, those in favor of the republic have started dialogue with the ruling party.

After seeing unprecedented participation in the welcome of the former king, emboldened royalists are now preparing for a unified movement that could challenge the republic. In response, both the ruling and opposition parties have started to come together.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), the chair of the main opposition party, the CPN (Maoist Centre), has proposed that republican forces should unite.

According to sources close to Prachanda, royalist forces are conspiring, and to counter this, republican forces need to unite.

However, there has not yet been a collective discussion between Prachanda and the leaders of the other major parties, KP Sharma Oli (chair of the CPN-UML) and Sher Bahadur Deuba (president of the Nepali Congress).

Efforts are ongoing to create an environment for dialogue among these leaders.

Maoist leader Lekhnath Dahal has mentioned that a government formed by republican forces is a possibility. He added that initial discussions have already begun and that more talks will likely take place with the Nepali Congress than with the CPN-UML.

However, Prachanda’s secretariat has urged that this should not be misunderstood as preparation to join the government.

Ganga Dahal, a member of the secretariat and Prachanda’s daughter, clarified that rumors of the Maoist Centre joining the current government are baseless. She firmly stated that such discussions are entirely unfounded.

Meanwhile, the ruling party, CPN-UML, has dismissed the ongoing discussions about a national unity government as untimely. After a secretariat meeting, UML’s deputy general secretary Pradeep Gyawali told the press that no one should be making efforts to enter the government at a time of crisis.

He called the topic of a new government a “premature issue” and questioned whether certain parties were seeking to use the situation as a stepping stone to gain power.

On the other hand, royalists have released a commitment letter along with a proposal for a new understanding aimed at the restoration of the monarchy.

Their conclusion is that the time is right for positive political and constitutional changes on the foundation of a monarchy-inclusive democracy. In their efforts to effectively advance the movement for the restoration of the monarchy, royalist forces are working hard to unite.