Says his group will emerge victorious in the ongoing party feud
KATHMANDU, MARCH 6
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today held his faction's parliamentary party meeting and directed the attending lawmakers to present themselves in the Parliament in an enthusiastic and respectable manner.
Chief Whip of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in the National Assembly Khimlal Bhattarai said the PM told the meeting that his faction of the NCP was in favour of the country and the people and hence his faction would surely emerge victorious in the current political feud with the rival faction of the NCP led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal.
The PM said the number of lawmakers in the parliamentary party would continue to increase from tomorrow, according to NA member Chakra Prasad Snehi.
"Soon we will have 120 and even 130 members in the parliamentary party,"
Snehi quoted the PM as telling lawmakers. A total of 115 members, including 24 NA members and 91 HoR members attended the parliamentary party meeting. He said NCP lawmakers Lalbabu Pandit, Bamdev Gautam and Gautam's wife Tulsi Thapa were not present in the Oli faction's meeting today.
Bamdev Gautam and Pandit are in favour of party unity.
Yesterday, Pushpa Kamal Dahal had also claimed that he was elected parliamentary party leader of the NCP by 115 members of the parliamentary party.
The Dahal-Nepal faction has removed PM Oli from party co-chair and even from the party's general membership.
Oli faction leader Subas Chandra Nembang told THT that the PM directed lawmakers to play their role in the HoR effectively. Asked how they planned to face a no-trust motion that the rival faction could bring against the PM, Nembang said the PM had been saying he would face it in the House. "We are not worried about the no-trust motion.
Those who plan to bring it should worry about it," he added.
As per constitutional provision, the movers of notrust motion must also name their prime ministerial candidate. The Dahal-Nepal faction may not get support from the Nepali Congress if they do not agree to name NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba as the next prime minister.
Spokesperson for the Dahal-Nepal faction Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the Oli faction's claim that 115 members took part in today's meeting was false. He said the majority of party lawmakers were with Dahal and since majority members had elected Dahal the new parliamentary party leader, Oli had to resign as PM.
He said if Oli did not resign, his party would hold talks with the NC and Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal to move a no-trust motion against the PM. The House of Representatives will convene at 4:00pm tomorrow after which the Dahal-Nepal faction may move a no-trust motion against the PM.
On February 23, the Supreme Court had termed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's move dissolving the HoR unconstitutional and ordered the government to call the HoR meeting within 13 days. Complying with the SC order, the government called the HoR meeting for tomorrow.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 07, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
