Opportunism and sacrifice in politics

The contest between the older parties and the newbies is one between stagnation and kinetics.

The impressive show put by the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), winning two out of the three seats contested in the recent by-elections, has once again solidified its image as a viable alternative to the old political forces that never seem to mend their ways. There were little doubts about Rabi Lamichhane’s ability to save the seat he had lost due to a Supreme Court order concerning his citizenship, for there was no way the people would bypass him for other candidates just five months after his thumping win. But Swarnim Wagle’s emergence as a redoubtable leader of Tanahun-1 less than a month after he left the Nepali Congress, where he had no defined role anyway, to join the RSP to contest the constituency vacated by a (formerly) top Nepali Congress leader has put to rest the criticism that he was just a political opportunist.