Nepal, Oct. 13 -- Disloyalty does not always go unrewarded. Santosh Kumar Pandey, Lumbini Province's minister for urban development, knows this as well as anyone. Having defied his party to keep a CPN-UML-led government afloat in the province, Pandey was appointed to his fourth ministerial portfolio on August 25. Ten days later, the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal expelled him.

Pandey, elected from Rupandehi-3(1), offers a more flattering explanation. "Every government should represent Madhesh and its communities," said Pandey, who has been called 'the evergreen minister'. "I have played a leading role in pushing for that, which is why my name keeps coming up when ministers are chosen."

In Nepal's provincial politics, expulsion from a part...