King Gyanendra's move on Wednesday to appoint Surya Bahadur Thapa as prime minister was sharply criticised by those who lost out. But it fulfilled the main demands of parties agitating against the king. On Wednesday, the king used Article 127 to activate Clause 35 which gives the prime minister executive powers and full authority to name a cabinet.

King Gyanendra and Surya Bahadur Thapa have not seen eye-to-eye in the past. Thapa was a liberal-Pancha who struggled to expand prime ministerial powers during an absolute monarchy. He met stiff resistance from hardliners in the palace, whom he collectively called Bhumigat Giroha, "The Underground Gang". Soame of them had made a comeback, so this week's events were in a sense a settling of scores.

Surya Bahadur Thapa is now a much more powerful prime minister than he ever was four times previously. His first order of business is to pacify the five-party combine by offering them a face-saving way to call off their agitation. He can dangle juicy cabinet positions or even announce a willingness to declare elections.

The Maoists have indicated they will talk to Thapa, and he may even be tempted to agree to constituent assembly elections, which would be a re-enactment of the 1980 referendum. It was Thapa who delivered a multiparty defeat to Naryanhiti on a platter then, and he retains some of his crisis management skills.

But the UML is smarting from humiliation, and Thapa needs to do a lot of fence-mending. The UML's Subhas Nemwang told us: "The king does not listen to parties that commanded 190 seats in parliament and chooses someone whose party had only 11 members in the house. How can we accept that?"

Speculation is rife about what nixed Madhab Kumar Nepal's chances, and political insiders we interviewed said it was strong opposition from several embassies in Kathmandu. "The international community just can't digest a communist government here, especially one that still calls itself 'Marxist-Leninst'," said one source. Perhaps sensing this, the UML toned down its radical anti-monarchist sloganeering, but that seems to have come too late.
There was also some deft mediation by senior RPP leaders to convince Girija Prasad Koirala that he should go along with his old buddy, Surya Bahadur Thapa and abandon his alliance with the UML.

If it is true that there was diplomatic activity in favour of Thapa, then it is also likely that the same forces will now try to convince the parties to join his interim government.