Kathmandu, Sept. 20 -- On 9 September, while a US delegation was landing at Kathmandu airport on a four-day visit, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Narayan Kaji Shrestha got together at the residence of Upendra Yadav for an important meeting.

The Nepali Congress, which leads a five-party coalition government, was not invited to the discussion between its own partners.

The meeting was to discuss a common posture of the coalition members towards a $500 million US grantunder the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to upgrade Nepal's electricity transmission lines and highways.

Cross-party support for the much-needed infrastructure project should have been a no-brainer, but MCC ratification has become such a political hot pota...