INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
They told him he had courted diplomatic and political controversy
Oli told both leaders he would not quit either as PM or party
co-chair
KATHMANDU, JULY 16
Co-chair of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal held
talks with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and asked him to step down.
Dahal, who had held talks with Oli multiple times in the last two weeks
went to meet the PM with Nepal today as there was no progress in Dahalearlier meetings with the PM
Nepal had also warned both the chairs not to go for a give-and-take deal.
A source close to Dahal said that Dahal and Nepal told PM Oli that
he should resign also because he had courted diplomatic and political controversy recently.
The source did not elaborate the controversy,
but the prime minister had said on Monday that the real Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Ram was in Thori, NepalParsa district, angering
civil society members and party leaders, including his own party leader Bamdev Gautam, who asked him to apologise to the public for making
baseless remarks.
A few days ago, PM Oli had also said that the entire Indian state apparatus was hatching a plot to topple him for his role
in depicting Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani in Nepalemblem.
NCP leaders took exception to the PMremarks saying they were aimed at
portraying party leaders in a bad light.
The source also said Dahal and Nepal told PM Oli that he must resign as prime minister in order to
help the party fulfil the pledges made in its election manifesto.
The source said the PM told Dahal and Nepal that he would not quit any of
the posts — prime Minister or party co-chair.
Most of the Standing Committee members have asked the PM to quit either the post of prime
minister or party co-chair.
Standing Committee members Yuba Raj Gyawali and Devendra Paudel, who are from the Dahal-Nepal faction said the
Standing Committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow would go as planned and it would not be postponed.
The NCP had postponed its Standing
Committee meeting multiple times in the last few weeks in an attempt to help the Oli faction and Dahal-Nepal faction iron out their
differences.
Gyawali said that if the rival factions failed to reconcile their differences, then the Standing Committee would take decisions
on the basis of majority even if somebody dissented
&Our party will not split but we will not allow the status quo to be maintained in the party,& Gyawali said.
The Dahal-Nepal faction has
accused the PM of taking unilateral decisions ignoring the party.
Gyawali said everybody should abide by the partydecision even if it went
against somebodypersonal interest
&Institutional decision is what matters for a political party
The partystatute cannot be changed just because somebody raises slogan on the street,& Gyawali said in a veiled reference to PM
Olisupporters chanting slogans in his favour these days.
Gyawali said party leaders were discussing various options for breaking the current
&If the PM does not want to quit the posts of PM and party co-chair, then he could quit at least one post.
Both co-chairs could also go for
the earlier agreement whereby both would become prime minister for half of the fiveyear tenure or one co-chair would lead the government and
another would lead the party with all the executive powers,&Gyawali added.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 17, 2020, of
The Himalayan Times.
The post Dahal, Nepal ask PM to resign appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
