MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal faces the media following a program organised on the 56th anniversary of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Wednesday

Two months since UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal managed to manoeuvre himself to power with a little help from his friends in the Maoist party, his government has not even achieved the bare minimum of settling on a full complement of ministers for his cabinet. One of the ministers he has nominated, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, has already rocked the boat by prompting the resignation of the widely admired Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal.

At the rate the prime minister is going, the process of forming a government may not even be completed by 28 May, when the Constituent Assembly is due to expire. With his enemies within and outside of UML quite happy to see him fail, and the party from which his government derives its chief legitimacy distracted by the much-hyped prospect of a vertical split, Khanal will have to conduct some serious outreach if his tenure is to be seen as more than the lucky aftermath of a slap in the face.