The country has now been held hostage to the ruling party infighting for nearly a year. There was hope that the ministerial reshuffle this week would finally close that chapter, but we underestimated the intensity of the competition among politicos for the juicy ministerial posts.

That was the reason for the original infighting in October, and that is why Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's efforts to soften dissidents by offering them cabinet carrots failed on Wednesday. In the end it all boiled down to who got what, and the prot?g?s of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in the dissident camp didn't get what they wanted, which included the party secretary-generalship and slots in the parliamentary board that is responsible for handing out party tickets.

Koirala tried to make sure he had covered all the bases. He made sure his grouchy colleague Bhattarai would be happy with the choice of Khum Bahadur Khadka and Omkar Shrestha, he picked nephew Prakash Koirala as a senior minister to rein in rebellious relatives. He even nearly roped in some of Sher Bahadur Deuba's key supporters like Chiranjivi Wagle and Bhakta Bahadur Balayar. But, in the end, it all came to nought. Now, Koirala has to be satisfied with a council of ministers largely made up of his own loyalists. And the bottom line is that Congress infighting will continue and long-suffering Nepalis will have to keep on paying the price for selfish politicians who can't get along.

Koirala's house of cards began crumbling hours after the new appointments were announced on Wednesday morning. By mid-day Khum Bahadur Khadka, awarded the plum Melamchi ministry (Physical Planning and Works), and Palten Gurung, given his pick, the labour and transport management portfolio, had come out with a statement that they would not join the cabinet. Insiders close to Koirala say that the actual reason was their dissatisfaction over their cronies not being appointed to other posts, although they claimed Koirala had named his ministers unilaterally, and also wanted the Lauda Air scam resolved before they joined in. (Adding a further twist to the drama, Gurung arrived at the ministerial line-up at the Royal Palace swearing-in at the last moment on Wednesday evening.)

So, one year later, we are back to where it all started. True to a fragmented party's nature, its members have become reckless. "That's when you stop believing that delivery of goods gives you the legitimacy with which you win votes and rule," said a Congress analyst. "They don't seem to care at all."

Otherwise, Koirala had been fairly open in the selection of the new team. 'Neutral' Ram Sharan Mahat (who couldn't attend Wednesday's swearing-in due to health reasons) replaced Koirala's blue-eyed boy Mahesh Acharya at the treasury while the lucrative tourism portfolio was given to Omkar Shrestha, a Bhattarai faithful.

Koirala tried, but has failed to keep his party together, and this means a bumpy ride ahead for him within his party and in parliament until the elections for local bodies due next year.

This shameless exposition of greed, power and disunity was music to the ears of the main opposition Unified Marxist-Leninists which is gearing up to oust Koirala in the winter session of parliament that started Thursday. But the Congress still has a majority in parliament, and the arithmetic does not favour the UML.

But the UML is mounting this challenge more with the 2002 elections in mind. For the moment, Koirala will continue to stay in charge but will come under increasing pressure from within his party and without. And his failure to rally his party will leave the Congress in tatters and the country's urgent problems unresolved.