Seeking Consolidation Of The Party, Nepal PM KP Oli Gets Sacked From His Post By Rival Fraction

The development comes after, PM Oli on Sunday, dissolved the Nepalese Parliament and decided to hold the general elections in two phases on April 30 and May 10, a year ahead of schedule.

Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: KP Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal, on Tuesday was ousted by his party after he tried to consolidate his control over the Nepal Communist Party, inducting his loyalist in the core group of the party. Following the attempt, his rival faction which is led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” announced to replace him as the co-chairman of the party with former PM of the country, Madhav Kumar Nepal. The development comes after, PM Oli on Sunday, dissolved the Nepalese Parliament and decided to hold the general elections in two phases on April 30 and May 10, a year ahead of schedule. Later, Oli defended his decision while addressing the nation and said that he was “forced to seek a fresh mandate through elections as attempts were made against my government, not to allow it to function properly.” “The dissolution of parliament and fresh elections were not my choice,” PM Oli said.  Soon after the announcement of the elections, PM Oli started to induct his loyalists in the party’s core committee. On Tuesday, the faction of the Communist Party headed by “Prachanda” met and with majority support in most party panels including the 446-member central committee over the new political crisis. After the meeting ended, the faction announced to replace KP Sharma Oli with Madhav Kumar Nepal as chairman of the Nepal Communist Party and also said that PM Oli may face disciplinary action. “A total of 315 Central Committee Members have voted in favor of Madhav Nepal,” the party spokesperson said. PM Oli, just a few hours before the meeting of his rival faction, presided over a meeting and announced a 1,199-member committee to organize the party’s general convention to strengthen his hold, adding the newly-formed committee by the Oli faction adds 556 members to the existing 446-member Central Committee of the ruling party to give the prime minister majority control. Meanwhile, according to the political experts of the country, PM Oli’s move to induct 556 members may not be successful. It is also worth mentioning, in Nepal, only the election commission can authorize the expansion of the central committee, if the expansion has been done by a majority vote of the existing central committee or on the basis of the statute of the party that authorizes Oli, as a chair of the party, to nominate new members in its Central Committee.