Right after the election results were started to indicate that the Nepali Congress has lost the election, the prime ministers, Sher Bahadur Deuba, made some controversial decisions like appointing the Film Development Board (FDB) chief. The newly appointed chief, Nikita Poudel, is the daughter of Uddav Poudel, the owner of Gopi Krishna theatre and film producer. After the news of the appointment of Poudel, the president of the Film Directors Association, Suchitra Shrestha, wrote that Nikita had paid Rs. 5 million to the Minister of Information to get the appointment. She wrote, “When one appointment cost 50,00,000 (50 Lakh) how can Congress win…”

The decision to appoint Nikita was made on the cabinet meeting held on December 11, 2017. In the meeting the minister of Information Mohan Basnet had proposed Nikita Poudel for the post. The proposal was approved by the meeting. Apart from being a businessman, Nikita’s father is also the secretary of Kamal Thapa’s Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Kamal Thapa is one of the Deputy Prime Minister in the current government. Thapa had also lost in the election in Makwanpur.

As Nepal Congress and its allies in the government don’t have enough members in the newly elected parliament, the current government is going to be dissolved as soon as the new government is formed by the biggest party CPN UML and it’s ally, CPN Maoist Center. The leaders have warned the current government not to make any critical decision as the newly formed government is going to nullify all those decisions as soon as they form the government.

There seem to be foul play in the decision because:

– The FDB Chair post has been vacant for the last few months. Appointing a chief at this time can’t be a priority of the outgoing government.
– Nikita Poudel is only known as being the daughter of Uddav Poudel. She hasn’t contributed anything to the Nepali film industry. The only film related work she did was – she was named the producer of a movie ‘Homework’. But, most of the producers name their wives or daughters as the producers and her father Uddav might have done the same in the case of the movie.
– Nikita’s father is the secretary of one of the parties in the government.

Will Nikita’s appointment be nullified? We will need to wait for some days to know the truth. But, in the mean time please comment if you think she won’t be able to continue as FDB Chief as soon as KP Oli becomes the next prime minister.

Suchitra’s status (credit – Dainiknepal)