Nepal PM Oli faces no-confidence motion by his own party

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IANS | 05 Mar, 2021
The rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka 'Prachanda' on Friday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli from the post latest by Sunday or get ready to face a no-confidence motion in the Parliament.

Nepal's ruling Communist party has politically split into two factions after Prime Minister Oli dissolved the House on December 20 and announced snap polls. Later, the Supreme Court overturned Oli's decision on February 24 and instructed the government to summon the House within 13 days of its verdict.

The two factions led by Oli and Prachanda have been staking claims to the Nepal Communist Party, with both saying they have a majority of members in the Central Committee as well as in the Parliamentary Party.

The infighting between the two factions of the Nepal Communist Party turned nasty after both sides removed top leaders from each other's factions, thus splitting the party politically.

Later on January 24, Prachanda faction ousted Oli as a general member of the party. On Thursday, the Prachanda faction wrote to the Parliament Secretariat, urging it not to recognise Oli as the Parliamentary party leader.

As per the directive of the Supreme Court, the government has summoned the House session for Sunday.

A Parliamentary party meeting of the Prachanda-led faction on Friday decided to seek Oli's resignation or face a no-confidence motion, Prachanda said after the meeting.

"If Oli does not resign from the post, the coming days will be difficult for him. We demanded his resignation as soon as the Supreme Court reinstated the House, but he refused to step down. Today, the majority of the parliamentarians have elected me as the parliamentary party leader. This means Oli is in minority in the party. If he does not resign, we will bring the no-confidence motion against him. We are forced to bring the no-confidence motion due to Oli's behaviour," said Prachanda.

But the Prachanda camp does not have the required numbers -- 173 -- to oust Oli through a no-confidence motion. The faction needs support from other parties like the Nepali Congress, the primary opposition in the house.

Nepali Congress has received offer for the post of Prime Minister from both the Oli and the Prachanda faction, but it has not yet decided as to whom to support.

The Prachanda-led faction has already offered the post of Prime Minister to Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba. But Deuba has been insisting that his party will not support any faction until the ruling party technically splits and divides into two political outfits.

The parliamentary party meeting also removed Oli and installed Prachanda as the party's parliamentary party leader. However, Oli has been claiming that he will face the Parliament and the no-confidence motion.

Oli lacks the quorum in the party, Prachanda said in the meeting, adding that they have majority parliamentarians against Oli in the party.

Both sides of the NCP, which has 173 lawmakers in the House of Representatives, are claiming that they have more than 100 lawmakers on their side.