In a dramatic turn of events, Federal Parliament General Secretary Bharat Raj Gautam resigned on Sunday and his replacement was recommended immediately.

Most officials at the Parliament Secretariat knew Gautam was quitting only after he submitted his resignation to President Ramchandra Paudel. His substitute, too, was picked secretly. Speaker of the House of Representatives Dev Raj Ghimire and National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina picked Padma Prasad Pandey, secretary at the House of Representatives, to replace Gautam.

However, it doesn't seem Pandey will become the general secretary anytime soon with the President in no mood to act as Ghimire and Timilsina want. "There are some procedural flaws in Pandey's recommendation. The President will first study the matter before taking any decision," Kiran Pokharel, press adviser to the President, told the Post without giving further details.

Sheetal Niwas officials say Paudel is sceptical of how Pandey's recommendation came up. "Pandey was recommended for the position even before the President accepted Gautam's resignation," said an official at the office on the condition of anonymity. "Also, how can Pandey be recommended for a political appointment while he continues to hold a position? Doesn't he need to put in his papers before he is recommended for another posting?"

He said President Paudel will consult legal experts before making any decision. Gautam, close to the CPN-UML, was appointed the general secretary in May 2020 and still had 10 months for retirement.

In a press note, Shekhar Adhikari, press adviser to the Speaker, said Gautam had tendered his resignation before the President on Sunday, citing personal reasons.

“Pandey has been recommended for the general secretary position as per Article 106 of the constitution following a joint recommendation by the lower house Speaker and the upper house chair,” reads the note.

Adhikari might have claimed Gautam resigned due to personal reasons, but the officials see it as a strategy of Ghimire and Timilsina to have a UML confidante as the general secretary.

The constitution says the general secretary of the federal parliament is appointed in consultation with both the Speaker and the chairperson of the National Assembly. Ghimire and Timilsina both come from the UML.

Timilsina retires on March 3, 2024. As the ruling alliance holds a majority in the Assembly and it is fielding common candidates in the upcoming elections, it is sure that the UML will not win the next chair.

"It is clear that Gautam’s resignation and Pandey's recommendation is a well thought out strategy to appoint a UML loyal as the general secretary," a senior official at the parliament secretariat told the Post, seeking not to be named.

Pandey, deputy attorney general, was appointed as the secretary of the lower house in May in the UML quota. The ruling parties have taken the entire episode seriously. "The sudden resignation and recommendation is not natural. We are studying the matter before devising our formal position on the issue," Ramesh Lekhak, the Nepali Congress chief whip, told the Post.

Some officials at the secretariat say this issue could instigate a confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties in Parliament.

They say it is possible that the President's Office may be "used" in favour of the ruling parties like in 2016. In August 2016, then-Speaker Onasari Gharti had written to then-President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint Gopal Nath Yogi, an advocate close to the CPN (Maoist Centre), as the House secretary. But Bhandari halted the appointment.

He was appointed in April 2018 only after being recommended again for the position, together with Rajendra Phuyal, a UML supporter, for the National Assembly.

"History can repeat itself," said another official at the secretariat.