KATHMANDU, MAY 08

Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party today decided to defeat the prime minister's floor test. PM Oli had called a special session of HoR on Monday to seek vote of confidence. Oli's government fell into minority after the CPN-Maoist Centre withdrew support.

NC Chief Whip Balkrishna Khand said the NC Parliamentary Party endorsed the party Central Working Committee decision to form an alternative government under the NC's leadership.

The NC had, on April 3, decided to form an alternative coalition government under its leadership.

NC Whip in the HoR Pushpa Bhusal told THT the NC PP decided to defeat the PM in the floor test as the government had lost political and constitutional grounds to rule the country. She said her party would try to form the next government under its leadership. Bhusal said NC would urge other parties to defeat the PM in the floor test.

Another NC lawmaker told THT that the party's lawmakers were of the view that NC should not bring a no trust motion against the government now as the move would be irrelevant because the PM has already sought vote of confidence.

The party also condemned the government for its poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Khand said most of the party lawmakers objected to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari's activism aimed at reconciling the differences in the CPN-UML. He said the constitution expected the president to play a neutral role without taking sides in any political party's internal affairs, but the president was trying to reconcile differences within the ruling CPN-UML.

Media outlets reported that President Bhandari recently met UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and urged him to help maintain party unity. PM Oli had suspended Nepal and some other party lawmakers of the Nepal faction for six months for allegedly engaging in anti-party activities.

NC can form the next government only if the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal support its efforts. The JSP-N remains divided on which party to support. Mahantha Thakur and Rajendra Mahato are in favour of supporting Oli's government if he addresses the party's demands, but the Upendra Yadav and Baburam Bhattarai faction of SJP-N want to topple Oli's government and form the next government. CPN-MC has said that it is ready to accept NC leadership.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 09, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.