KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 21

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has rejected the validity of the Standing Committee meeting of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) held yesterday without his presence.

The committee had recommended disciplinary action against him.

The prime minister, also a cochair of the NCP, said this at a meeting with lawmakers of his faction from the dissolved House of Representatives held at his official residence in Baluwatar.

The prime minister claimed that the Dahal-led faction had no right to call the meeting as he was the first chair of the party and the person authorised to call meetings.

Lawmaker of the dissolved House Krishna Rai, quoting the PM, said after the PM the right to call the meeting lay with Bishnu Prasad Paudel, general secretary of the party, who is also a supporter of Oli.

“Dahal was given the post of co-chair only to manage the process of unification,” Rai said, citing the PM.

Oli also stressed he was still the chairman of the party and leader of the parliamentary party and any meeting without him could not be legitimate.

Oli also said that any Central Committee meeting called in his absence would not be valid as only he and Subas Nembang had the right to call the Central Committee meeting.

Both Paudel and Nembang are in the NCP faction led by Prime Minister Oli.

He claimed that the rival faction had left him with no other choice but to dissolve the House of Representatives.

He said his rivals were obstructing the government’s plan and policies, forcing him to call for fresh a mandate.