File photo
Beleaguered Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli was driven further to the brink on Monday as he lost a crucial trust vote in parliament. The vote followed his rival and CPN (Maoist Centre) leader P K Dahal Prachanda’s decision to withdraw support to his government. Seen initially by many as a Chinese acolyte, Oli had made repeated efforts to reach out to India in the recent past as he managed to hang on to power virtually by the skin of his teeth. Oli secured only 93 votes in the 275-member lower house of parliament during a special session.
Hours after Oli lost the trust vote, President Bidya Devi Bhandari called on political parties to form a majority government within next three days. After losing the confidence vote, the PM is automatically removed from his post and now the new coalition government will be formed as per the constitutional process, said senior Nepali Congress leader Prakash Man Singh. Oli though can still stake a claim to form government again if the House fail
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.
File photo of Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli(left) with Prime Minister Modi.
NEW DELHI: As India stays out of the ongoing political crisis in Nepal, instead looking to focus on its economic ties, Kathmandu has said that the Nepal government will not allow the current instability to come in the way of bilateral cooperation with India.
Speaking for the first time since the K P Sharma Oli government dissolved the lower house of Parliament last week plunging the country into political turmoil Nepal s ambassador to India Nilambar Acharya told TOI the Oli government is looking to hold the foreign minister-level Joint Commission meeting that will see Nepal foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali visiting India.