DHANGADI, JANUARY 8

Prime Minister and NCP (NCP) chairperson KP Sharma Oli said it was absurd for the rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal-Madhav Nepal faction to claim that they had the majority of the parliamentarians of the party in their fold.

Speaking at a mass gathering organised by his supporters in Dhangadi today, the prime minister said, “They’re claiming that they’ve 265 MPs on their side. But Nepal has 30 million people. I challenge them to win even 10 seats in the upcoming elections.”

Oli also called leaders of the Dahal-Nepal faction as defectors, saying, “Don’t listen to them.”

He said NCP was not a party made up of Dahal’s family members.

He announced to develop Geta Medical College as a medical university. “The process of developing Geta Medical College as a medical university has already begun. We will also expedite the West Seti Hydropower Project,” he said.

The PM said plans were afoot to upgrade Gauriphanta entry point and Dhangadi Airport.

Oli had flown to Dhangadi to address a mass gathering.

In view of Oli’s arrival, the administration had deployed a huge number of security personnel in different places of the district, including Dhangadi, since early morning.

However, there was no one from the Sudurpaschim provincial government to welcome the prime minister at the airport. Earlier, there were two Oli supporters — Pathansingh Bohara and Jhapat Bohara — in the provincial government but after Pathansingh was sacked and Jhapat resigned, there is no representation from the Oli faction in the provincial government.

Regarding the absence of the provincial government’s representatives to welcome Oli at the airport today, Chief Minister Trilochan Bhatta’s Secretariat said they didn’t go to receive him as there was no formal information regarding the impending visit of the prime minister.