We\'ve all wondered when Girija would pull out his republican trump card, and it looks like the time has arrived. He had held on to it not to open two armed fronts, but he thinks it is now safe to go for it. Partly it is pressure from within the party ranks from young cadre who think the monarchy is a no-go for elections. Girija banked on making the monarchy the issue on which he could differentiate his party from all the others, but now it looks like even he has decided that it is electoral suicide.

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So what does kingji think about all this? Was always hard to tell what ex-Lord Vishnu was plotting, but he has apparently been mulling a quiet getaway to India (provided he can get confirmed seats on the Delhi flight) on the semi-pretext of a health checkup. And the visit could always be extended later so it doesn\'t look like he\'s been hounded out. A good plan, and one in which no one loses face. The only trouble is sonnyboy taking it badly enough to have a coronory condition. Egged on by buddies, the young man is reluctant to give up this chance to be a sri paunch. Daddy and mummy are so terrified of what he may do, the Ass learns they are unwilling to confront him.

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If we Nepalis want to behave just like we would in Nepal when we go abroad, why bother going abroad at all? Here we haven\'t started getting excited about elections, but there election fever has already taken hold. In fact, the diaspora is being polarised along party lines with infighting, backbiting, and ideological confusion even more intense than among their parent parties back home.

For example, in Europe the Jana Samparka Karyalaya serves as the NC front which has the Sujata Faction, the Sushil Faction, and even the Ramchandra Faction.

The UML is represented by the Development Forum which recently hosted Comrade Makunay and even that has the Oli faction and Jhallu faction. And the Maoists have their Jana Mukti Morcha, or words to that effect, which acts like the foreign arm of the YCL. And then, there are the Tamu Samaj, Tamang Samaj, Madhes Samaj, a Sherpa Samaj and just about every samaj except a Nepali Samaj. Their agenda: to evict from the samaj anyone found to be taking part in Tij dohoris, or observing dasain. Some truth in the observations from Sri Lankan Tamils in Toronto and Sikhs in Vancouver that disapora chauvinism is always more radical than among the same groups at home.

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Now that Europe is being carved up into spheres of influence by Maoist ambassadors in France and Denmark, a kangresi in London, and the UML in Brussels turf battles among overseas party wings are going to get vicious. For sure, the last thing on the minds of these political plenipotentiaries is going to be their country\'s national interest. As the Ass hinted last week, the tearing hurry about sending an ambassador to London was to seal the deal on the sale of the embassy property at Kensington Square Garden which has been Nepal\'s property since the 1930s. Apparently the building hasn\'t been repaired since it was acquired and the borough council has decided to condemn it. We\'ll have to pay a 4 million pound fine if repairs aren\'t started right away. So in its infinite wisdom, Shitall Nibas has decided to sell off this prime property. The bids are in the 30 million pound range and the Mittals who own blocks opposite are apparently eyeing 12A as well. The UML-controlled ministry has been handling the deal so far, and that is why the NC decided to send its trusted man to London so it would have a stake in whatever is being negotiated. The Ass can give it in writing right here and now that the money is sure to go into various pockets, and none of it will be spent on buying a new embassy in London.

ass@nepalitimes.com