Shailaja Acharya to be Nepal's envoy to India

Shailaja Acharya, the aunt of Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala and niece of Prime Minister G.P. Koirala, is set to be Nepal's new ambassador to India.

Nepal's eight-party government has finally approved Acharya's name as the new envoy after a bitter feud between the Maoists and Prime Minister Koirala that lasted for nearly three months.

Acharya is a former deputy prime minister of Nepal. Her nomination is seen as a move by G.P. Koirala to pacify her as keen rivalry in the Koirala household saw her being sidelined by the prime minister's daughter Sujata and nephew Shekhar Koirala.

When Acharya's name was proposed for the key diplomatic post earlier, it was met with fierce resistance by the Maoists who threatened to stop her from entering the Nepal embassy in New Delhi.

However, since then prolonged negotiations finally saw the eight parties reach an understanding and with the three major ones - G.P. Koirala's Nepali Congress, the Maoists and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist - grabbing most of the plum postings, to the chagrin of the smaller partners.

The multi-party government has finally agreed on 21 names for ambassadorial posts, of which only three are career diplomats and four are from the bureaucracy and academics. The majority are political appointees.

The government has been following in the footsteps of King Gyanendra's regime two years ago when the king appointed royalists in key posts, triggering widespread criticism.

It has been doing the same thing while appointing top government officials and constitutional bodies, the process marked by acrimonious haggling among the big three parties.

The final ambassadorial appointments would be made after the names are approved by a parliamentary committee within a fortnight.

The endorsement would see the Maoists finally embarking on official diplomacy as well. After bitter squabbling, they have been given ambassadorial berths in France, Denmark, Australia and Malaysia.

However, though the big three finally ended their dispute, there are now rumblings from the minor allies.

Rajendra Mahato, minister for commerce, industry and supplies, who belongs to the Nepal Sadbhavana Party, a junior ally in the coalition, has expressed his concern at the division of spoils among the big three.

Mahato says there are no Madhesis - people from the Terai plains - among the nominations.

Ironically, the names were made public the same day the government signed a pact with a protesting group in the plains, pledging to give proportional representation to Madhesis in all government departments.

(IANS)

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