Nepal PM Oli expelled from ruling Nepal Communist Party

Kathmandu, Jan 25: In a huge development, Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli has been removed from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) by a Central Committee Meeting of the splinter group of the party on Sunday. "His membership has been revoked," Spokesperson for the group, Narayan Kaji Shrestha confirmed.

 

Earlier in December, the splinter group had removed Oli, one of the two chairmen of the ruling party, as the party chair. Madhav Nepal was named as the party's second chairman. Prachanda is the first chairman of the party.

 

On Friday, the rival faction leaders of the NCP had threatened to expel Oli from the party as they took to the streets for the second time in less than a month to protest against his decision to dissolve the Parliament on December 20 last year. The splinter group has been calling for fresh elections for April and May this year amid the political unrest in the country.

 

Oli had taken an unprecedented move - to dissolve the Lower House that strained the relations the public as well as his party insiders even more. Several writ petitions have been registered at the apex court against the dissolution of the lower house of the Nepal Parliament. The case is being heard by a five-member Constitutional Bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana.

 

Oli-led Nepal Communist Party weighed heavily in both the lower and upper houses with a huge majority secured during the 2017 general election. Oli, who has been losing support within his own party, has been long criticized for making unilateral decisions while making key appointments and decisions. He has also been widely criticized for mishandling the pandemic and saving ministers accused of corruption.

 

Meanwhile, India has not spoken about the development of dissolving the Nepal parliament saying it is a Nepal's internal matter. However, it is keeping an eye on the events, given the testy relations with Nepal in the past year. These turn of events might not be in favour of China either as its ambassador in Kathmandu has been working to keep the NCP united.

 

India and Nepal have been at odds since the map-making controversy last year, as the Oli government moved to amend the Nepalese constitution to show Indian territories as Nepalese. This led to several months of frosty ties between India and Nepal, at a time when Kathmandu was actively courting China, and India and China were in a stand-off in eastern Ladakh.

 

It took a phone conversation between Oli and Narendra Modi to break the odds. Following the telephonic conversation, India has separately sent RAW chief Samant Goel, Army chief Gen MM Naravane and foreign secretary Harsh Shringla to Kathmandu.