Third force: The tightrope walk that awaits Prachanda, Nepal's new PM

On Christmas day, Dahal became prime minister of Nepal for the third time - with Oli's assistance. The story of how he achieved this is a riveting one

On November 14, while campaigning in Nepal’s Lamjung district, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, said he would never join hands with erstwhile coalition partner, K P Sharma Oli, who he said was a danger to democracy and had badly betrayed him. “He (Oli) had been trying to rule like Hitler,” Prachanda said.

On November 15, the personal staff of both Dahal and Oli said the two leaders had spoken to each other. Dahal’s personal secretary, Ramesh Malla, recounted the conversation to Online Khabar, Nepal’s best-known digital news platform.

“He (Oli) said