Kathmandu, July 24
Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who was to face a motion of no-confidence against his government later today, dodged the vote by announcing his resignation.
CPN-Unified Marxist Leninist Party chairman Oli, who became Prime Minister in October last year, had his government reduced to a minority after junior coalition partner CPN-Maoist Centre (led by Prachanda) pulled out of the ruling alliance accusing the PM of not adhering to past agreements.
Prachanda teamed up with Nepali Congress, the principal opposition and the largest party in Parliament, to register a motion of no-confidence against Oli after a deadline the duo set for Oli to resign expired.
In his marathon farewell speech in Parliament, Oli waited till the end of his extempore performance to announce his resignation. In his more-than-two-hour-long speech he criticised the Nepali Congress and the Maoists for trying to topple a ‘nationalist’ government.
“They said the Prime Minister would dissolve Parliament, but the Prime Minister will not do that,” he said.
Few minutes before his appearance in Parliament, the final meeting of the council of ministers recommended President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to remove constitutional obstacles to forming a new government. According to Oli, the new constitution does not have a provision to elect a new government until fresh elections are held.
President Bhandari is now expected to call on all political parties to form a government of national consensus within seven days. When the deadline elapses, Parliament will begin proceedings to elect a new Prime Minister.
Prachanda is touted to be the new Prime Minister with the backing of the Nepali Congress and the Madhesh-based parties.
