Nepal, March 12 -- Overnight political change isn't something new in Nepal. So when Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal broke ties with the Nepali Congress and switched over to the CPN-UML last week, people were hardly surprised. In the past few decades, three big parties-the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the Maoist Centre-have ruled the country turn by turn, forever changing coalitions and partners at their convenience. Friends turning foes and vice-versa in the course of accumulating power and perks has become accepted practice across parties.

One notices something different this time around, though. The largest party in the new coalition, the UML, which is more than double the size of the prime minister's party, the CPN (Maoist Centr...