Nepal politicians came under strong pressure to develop these water resources. Nepal’s stall tactics also came under the gun. In 1991, a newly elected government in Nepal proclaimed it had come to an “understanding” with India on a number of water resource issues. This understanding caused a great furore amongst the opposition parties and the general public. This resulted to a change In Nepal’s government which changed their absolute monarchy into a combined constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The new government amended their constitution. The government passed a new order, Article 126(2) which stated that any sharing of water resources would require an approval of a 2/3’s majority in parliament.
On water resource projects, Nepal did hold one other major negotiation card in that Nepal had the right to veto a proposed hydroelectric water project. India was now placed in a weaker negotiating position because any proposals would now have to please not only the incumbent government but also the opposition parties, or a majority segment of the population. This forced India to restructure its negotiating framework.