Nepal PM KP Oli asked to leave during party meeting, he blames India

The dissension against Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is rising within his own party with fresh demands for his resignations made in a standing committee meeting of the ruling Communist Party, according to local news reports published on Tuesday.

Thehimalayantimes.com reported that party’s co-chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other senior leaders including Madhav Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal and Bamdev Gautam asked Oli to quit citing his government’s alleged failure in handling several issues and accused him of using diversionary tactics such as playing the India card to cover up the shortcomings.

“As things progressed, party co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal asked PM Oli to quit owing to the government’s gross, all-round incompetence, according to a source close to Dahal. Many NCP (NCP) leaders came down heavily on PM Oli for failing to deliver as well as for applying diversion tactics to fend off criticisms,” said a report in thehimalayantimes.com.

The Nepali news website added that the Oli’s rival faction is “hell bent” to force him to either quit the Prime Ministerial post or the position of party co-chair. It said that Oli again raised the India issue to wriggle out of the tight corner he was forced into over other domestic issues.

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Another Nepali news website eKantipur.com, too, confirmed that Oli was asked to quit by the rival faction in the meeting and added that Oly reiterated his allegation that the Indian government was behind attempts to overthrow his government.

“Speaking at the meeting, senior leaders Madhav Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Oli. The meeting, which focused on border issues on Friday and Saturday, turned to resignation on Sunday after Prime Minister Oli said India and the Indian embassy had met to overthrow his government,” said a report in eKantipur.com.

The third day of a standing committee meeting called by the Nepal Communist Party and it focused on politics without entering into the agenda set for the meeting, it added.

Oly has been alleging that India was upset with Nepal’s fresh territorial claims on Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura and also the subsequent redrawing of the Himalayan country’s map through an amendment to the constitution earlier this month and was working behind the scenes to have him removed.

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India, on the other hand, has rejected Nepal’s claim as “untenable” and described it as an “artificial enlargement” of the territorial claims. It has also maintained that New Delhi values its friendly relations with Nepal and its people.

Three days ago, Communist party president Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda had demanded Oli’s resignation while questioning his attempt to pass on the blame to New Delhi.

The reports on Tuesday said that on the third day of the standing committee’s meeting, Oly’s rivals again stressed on the futility of him blaming India.

“There was no point in saying that the Indian state apparatus or embassy was trying to overthrow the government, the leaders said that the party had made him the prime minister and the party could remove him if it wanted to,” ekantipur.com reported.

On Monday, Nepal foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali had said that the government hoped that the territorial dispute between India and Nepal would be resolved through diplomatic efforts and that it should not impact other dynamics of the bilateral ties, as reported by PTI.

Nepal this month completed the process of redrawing the country’s political map through a Constitutional amendment, incorporating three strategically important Indian areas.

The current controversy began with the defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurating a 80-km-long strategically important road between the Lipulekh pass and Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.

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