KATHMANDU: With the sudden dissolution of the House of Representatives of Nepal’s Federal Parliament by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the Himalayan nation has now entered a stage of confusion, disarray and uncertainty.
Oli’s recommendation to dissolve the House on Sunday was swiftly approved by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari without any delay has invited politics of chaos and mayhem. Along with the House dissolution, Oli has also recommended to conduct the mid-term elections on April 30 and May 10, 2021.
Oli, who was heading the most powerful government in Nepal’s modern history, now became sources of instability where party leaders and experts say that this has rattled the long cherished dream of stability, prosperity, peace and development, party leaders said.
In a special editorial, Nepal’s leading English language newspaper, The Kathmandu Post said that with one fell swoop, Prime Minister Oli pushed the country to yet another quagmire of instability and political crisis when he orchestrated a political coup as his Cabinet recommended the dissolution of the House.
Leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party said that with the move, Oli has prepared a background to split the party. If the ruling party will split, the making and unmaking of governments will begin and Nepal will enter into a politics of instability and confusion.
Some of our friends had already planted the seed of party split, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said in an interview on Monday. The Prime Minister was engulfed and picketed by several elements where he couldn’t move on, he could not deliver so he decided to take fresh mandate and decided to go to the people, Gyawali, a close confident of Oli, said.
Oli was facing a huge trust deficit within the party since he assumed office in February 2018.
Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda was running the opposition camp inside the party, criticising Oli’s style of governance, flourishing corruption, inept in service delivery, Oli’s ambition to become a totalitarian ruler.
Oli also kept on dishonouring the party decisions and ruled the government unilaterally. Oli deserves action and punishment for this act, former premier Madhav Nepal said, he does not deserve to become the party members too.
The party is preparing to take action him, the former prime minister but a long time Oli’s friend said during an interview. To chart out the future strategy, both the Oli and Prachanda factions have called meetings of their respective camps on Monday where they are expected to discuss their next move.
Main opposition, the Nepali Congress has also summoned an all party meeting to discuss the latest political development. Ruling and opposition party cadres have staged protest in several parts of the country against the decision to dissolve the House. It is also learnt that Oli was all set to face a no-confidence motion within the party if he had not dissolved the House.
Majority of the party parliamentarians have collected signature against Oli’s government and filed a petition at parliament secretariat to summon the house session where they were preparing to register the no-confidence motion.
Leaders, constitutional experts have condemned the move and urged the court and Speaker to protect the Constitution. As per the Constitution, Parliament is not dissolved, NCP standing committee member Janardan Sharma said. Another standing committee member, Barsha Man Pun who had resigned from Energy Minister on Sunday hoped that the dissolved house will be reinstated and proposed midterm elections set for April and May will be scrapped.
Opposition parties, Nepali Congress, Janata Samajbadi Forum and others have decided to launch A protest, saying it is impossible to conduct elections in April/May. Two separate petitions have filed in supreme court challenging the house dissolution but it was not sure when the hearing will be conducted.
Hours after Oli dissolved the House, seven ministers resigned, while the Nepal Communist Party Standing Committee has decided to take action against the Prime Minister. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has explored options while all eyes are on Supreme Court.
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