Kathmandu, May 5
With the main opposition Nepali Congress, the UCPN-Maoist and the United Democratic Madheshi Front ganging up against it, the KP Sharma Oli government is in an unprecedented crisis, fuelling speculations in the media that Oli may put in papers on Thursday itself.
Amid all this, Oli has called a Cabinet meeting this morning to discuss the way ahead: Whether to face a no-confidence motion in the Parliament or quit the job, says Pramod Dahal, Prime Minster Oli’s press coordinator.
Perhaps it will be contextual to note that Bishnu Rimal, PM Oli’s chief political adviser, had claimed on Wednesday that there’s no regulation on the basis of which political parties opposed to the Oli government can table a no-confidence motion against it in the Parliament. He was pointing that while the old regulation has been scrapped, the new one is not ready.
While the CPN-UML and the ruling RPP-Nepal have expressed surprise over the Maoist party’s decision to withdraw support to the Oli-led ruling coalition all of a sudden, the Maoist party maintains that it took the move as Oli did not allay its concerns expressed through a letter sent to him more than a month ago. RPP-Nepal Chair and Deputy Prime Minister in the Oli government, Kamal Thapa, has described the bid to topple the government as part of a conspiracy against national sovereignty and independence. He has appealed Maoist Chair Prachanda to reconsider his move.
But the Maoists seem unfazed. There are reports indicating that Prachanda will lead the future government in the event of formation of a national consensus government. If it’s a majority government, it will give NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba the opportunity to lead.
