KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 28
CPN-UML Chair and former prime minister KP Sharma Oli has said that fresh elections should be held to move the country ahead.
In an interaction with journalists organised by his party, Oli said that he had no problem if the current ruling coalition held early elections to move the country ahead. " When I decided to seek fresh mandate, opponents misused the term 'regressive' to denounce my step but seeking fresh mandate cannot be termed a regressive step. This government that claimed to be progressive one, has not been able to expand the Cabinet even after two-and-a-half months," Oli said.
Oli flayed the Sher Bahadur Deuba for issuing Political Party Act (Second amendment) Ordinance and rescinding it when the Parliament was sitting. "Ordinance can be issued only when there is no session of the Parliament and there is urgency to do something.
The government issued the ordinance with mala fide intention to split our party and it rescinded the ordinance when the government fulfilled its objectives," Oli added.
He, however, defended his move to bring the similar ordinance saying that his actions were logical as he believed that dissidents of a political party should be allowed to split the party when they have legitimate concerns. "We have seen a party increasing the size of its Central Committee from 4,000 to 7,000 overnight to prevent dissidents from splitting the party," Oli said and added that he had issued the ordinance allowing leaders to split their mother parities with 40 per cent either in the Central Committee or the Parliamentary Committee but the Deuba government lowered the threshold to 20 per cent.
Oli responded to journalist's query about his party's stance vis-à-vis millennium challenge corporation signed between Nepal and the USA. " MCC was signed when the Nepali Congress and the CPN- MC was in power. These two parties are in the ruling coalition and they have majority to pass the MCC agreement.
They have not consulted us on MCC. Let them make their position on MCC clear and then we will make our position clear," Oli said. Oli government had tabled the MCC agreement in the Parliament but now when Oli's party is in the opposition, his party leaders have said that they are also in favour of passing the MCC agreement only after amending some clause. The USA has said that amendment to the MCC agreement at this time is not possible.
Oli said media had played the role of watchdog cautioning his government in the past about what was wrong which helped him avoid mistakes but the media had not been playing the role of watchdog with the same intensity this time when the Sher Bahadur Deuba government was blatantly violating the constitution and norms of democracy.
Oli said the government's intent of allowing investors in big infrastructure projects without requiring them to show the source of their income was wrong it could bring destruction not development.
"We know who the government wants to benefit by announcing that source of income shall not be sought for the investment in big projects," Oli added.
In response to a journalist's query Oli also said that people's multi-party democracy that his party followed was not only a principle of political democracy but also a guiding principle for change and the PMPD was a dynamic principle.
PMPD is like a train designed to travel up to 100 kilometers but it can also travel up to 1000 kilometers when the tracks are laid for such a distance," Oli added.
Oli said his party was within its right to oppose the Supreme Court's decision to declare that Sher Bahadur Deuba was the new prime minister.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 29 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
