KATHMANDU/NEW DELHI: In a big setback for K P Oli, Nepal’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the reinstatement of parliament, two months after the Prime Minister dissolved the House and called for an early election. After months of infighting in the ruling Nepal Communist Party fanned by his rivalry with former PM P K Dahal Prachanda, Oli had dissolved the parliament on December 20 in a move described by many as unconstitutional. The ruling means Oli, who was elected in 2018 following his party’s landslide win in an election in 2017, faces a no-confidence vote once parliament re-sits.
Oli’s decision to dissolve the House had come in the middle of an outreach to India that also saw his foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali visiting New Delhi in the middle of the political uncertainty in Kathmandu. Unlike China, though, India has kept away from the ruling party crisis, calling it Nepal’s internal matter. There was no reaction from India on Tuesday on the latest development.