Two days ago in a last minute dramatic twist the political parties reached a much awaited consensus to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly by 3 months (with a potential final extension of further 3 months).
While this was expected, it still was dragged on to the last minute. Further the uncertainty has meant that the last 3 months the economy was in a stalemate with everyone holding their breath and hoping that the extension would happen.
One area that no one dared to ask or talk about, was What if the term was not extended? No one seems to have an answer to that. However one possible option is that Nepal would have gone into a emergency, with the President stepping in to lead the country, until the next elections could be head.
The current president (Dr. Ram Baran Yadav) has strongly resisted any discussions regarding this scenario and has gone on record to state that he would not impose President’s rule, come what may. This has now led certain intellectuals to worry, that if the Constitution is not drafted within 6 months then a strong and willing President will be needed to lead the country.
Therefore there is a discussion, whether there is need to perhaps find another candidate to take over the Vice Presidentship. In this context one name that has emerged is Manoj Verma who has a track record of being a strong willed democracy advocate and was one of the active leaders in Nepal’s move towards democracy. Manoj is currently involved primarily in developmental activities, working with several NGO’s to empower the lower income people of Nepal. When contacted Manoj declined to comment on the same, and declared that all such discussions were mere speculation.
