The rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) expelled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the party on Sunday in the midst of growing political instability following his decision to disband the lower house of the Parliament.
According to Narayankaji Shrestha, a rival faction, Nepal’s PM Oli is no longer a party member.
“Today’s Central Committee Meeting which conveyed at Paris Danda decided to remove KP Sharma Oli from the party. He no longer holds even a simple membership of the Nepal Communist Party,” Mr. Shrestha told ANI.
The move comes after a splinter group headed by former prime ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal asked Mr. Oli for a response as to why he should not be expelled from the party for making illegal decisions.
The party handed over a letter to the residence of the Prime Minister of Nepal on a decision to request clarification. However, Mr. Oli did not react to the letter.
Last week, two senior party leaders held a mass meeting in the capital of Kathmandu and warned that Mr. Oli’s party membership would be evoked by taking punitive action against him.
In the midst of the growing internal split within the party, the now-career Prime Minister, Oli, voted to dissolve the Parliament on 20 December last year, calling for fresh elections in April and May this year. This move has been authorised by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.
Soon after the announcement, the NCP split into two factions with each claiming its own to be the authentic ones. Now, it depends on the Election Commission who is studying the documents and laws to come to a conclusion on which faction will retain the election emblem of the “sun”.
