From Kartik 2051 to Chaitra 2054, during the tenure of five prime ministers, 121 MPs had the opportunity to become ministers, many of whom held the position repeatedly.
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After the mid-term elections held in the last week of Kartik 2051, 5 prime ministers were elected in 3 and a half years until Chaitra 2054. 2 from the Congress, 2 from the RPP, and 1 from the UML. The last prime minister of this period, Girija Prasad Koirala, was running the government. For 3 and a half years, all 205 members of the House of Representatives were constantly involved in the game of maintaining and toppling the government.
The rumor of changing the prime minister was like opening a lottery for the members of parliament (except for a few). Because the government could not survive without fulfilling their 'demands'. In the mid-term elections, 20 members of parliament from the RPP won. 17 of them became ministers. Since the Congress and the UML could not form a government under their own leadership without the support of the RPP, the members of that party had every opportunity.
The MPs were so lucky that 109 out of 205 in the House of Representatives and 12 in the National Assembly got the opportunity to become ministers during this period. The MPs got the opportunity to become ministers 5 times and The change of parliamentary office bearers 2 times. There were 60 MPs in the National Assembly, including 10 nominated by the King.
During this period, when the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee, Chief Whip, Whip, Secretary of the Parliamentary Party and the commission formed by the government were counted, 129 MPs were considered lucky at that time. Out of 205, only 77 MPs in the House of Representatives were in the role of MPs during this period. That is, they did not get the opportunity to become ministers or any other position.
As the government was changing, MPs were getting the opportunity to become ministers. The MPs who did not reach the privileged positions were 52 from UML, ML and 23 from Congress. It was said that 4 MPs from Congress were so unlucky that they did not get the opportunity to become ministers even after winning the elections twice.
Dhruv Sharma, Ramesh Rijal, Ramkrishna Adhikari and Hari Prasad Chaudhary, who were elected from Congress in 2048 and 2051 BS, did not get any opportunity except becoming MPs. MP Dr. Sharma used to say that not being able to reach the ministerial position cannot be called a ‘game of luck’. Sharma had said, ‘If I had not had personal ability, I would not have been able to become a doctor. I proudly say that I am famous in the SAARC region because I am a qualified person.’ He had said that leaders had started distributing positions to their people based on what they did not get, just like during the Rana period. ‘Their own people were pushed forward and qualified people were pushed back,’ was his response. More than 18 MPs of the first-time elected Congress did not get any post in the 3 and a half years.
Even after 2 elections in UML, 11 MPs did not get any ministerial or parliamentary party-related post. In 3 and a half years, 55 MPs from the Congress, 26 from the UML, 20 from the RPP, 3 from the Sadbhavana Party and 6 independent MPs became ministers. Due to the structure of the House of Representatives, the RPP and the Sadbhavana Party had a lot of power. During the change of government, MPs of these 2 parties used to complain that they would not get ministers of state and assistant ministers. They were always getting ministers except in the 9-month-old UML government and the Koirala Council of Ministers formed in 2007. Looking at the number of ministers, the public had created a comment like 'jumbo cabinet' and 'taxi cabinet'. Which is also seen as an event that history will never forget. At that time, a cabinet of up to 48 members was formed to sustain the government.
At that time, there were 7 women MPs in the House of Representatives. All of them had the opportunity to become Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Speaker, and ministers. The number of women in the House was very low compared to today. The news prepared by journalist Hari Bahadur Thapa, focusing on the distribution of posts in order to please the MPs due to the 'hanging parliament' and the power's control over the state's resources, was published by Kantipur Daily on 2 Jestha 2055 under the title 'One Hundred and Twenty-One Ministers in Three and a Half Years'.
Presentation: Rishiram Paudyal
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