Kathmandu, March 21 -- Just two weeks into the new Maoist-led 5-party coalition government, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has found a new best friend in Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane.

So desperate is Dahal to stay on as PM that he has sacrificed his bishop, comrade-at-arms Krishna Bahadur Mahara who is Maoist vice-chair and has given new meaning to his party designation.

Lamichhane is out to show that he has the pluck to go after high profile politicians, and has convinced Dahal that he had to do what he had to do to restore flagging public support.

It was convenient that Lamichhane could use an inquiry commission report implicating Mahara in 60kg of gold being smuggled in from Hong Kong as motorcycle brakes last year, and another...