Oli set to be Nepal PM again as Oppn parties fail to stake claim

With opposition parties failing to stake their claim to form government by the deadline set by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister KP Oli is all set to be re-appointed as Prime Minister barely three days after he lost the vote of confidence in Parliament.

The Chief of the Nepali Congress, Sher Bahadur Deuba, informed his party colleagues and other allies shortly ahead of the deadline that he could not manage a majority to stake the claim for the post as such has decided to withdraw from the race.

While formal withdrawal by the leader of the main opposition left President Bhandari with no option other than to invite Oli again as he is the leader of the single-largest party, the day also saw 16 parliamentarians from the Mahanth Thakur faction of the Janata Samajbadi Party being taken away and confined in a luxury hotel near Bhaktapur under strict vigilance to ensure that they did not join the anti-Oli group.

Besides this, Oli also held discussions with Madhav Kumar Nepal, dissident leader of  the ruling Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, and succeeded in persuading the group of 28  against resigning from parliament, thereby throwing the opposition’s plan out of the window.

Nepali Congress was hoping that the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre and a faction of the JSP led by Upendra Yadav and Baburam Bhattarai would support it, but the unity attempt that began between the two factions of UML and deferred resignations came in the way.

“We will continue talking, and we have deferred the move for resignation for now,” Nepal said after his meeting with Oli.

In the morning, Oli demonstrated what could be a tactical flexibility and informed Nepal over the phone that their suspension and expulsion from the party’s primary membership for six months has been withdrawn, paving the way for conciliatory talks.

President Bhandari had fixed 9 pm on Thursday as the deadline for two or more political parties to stake the claim for the government under Article 76(2) of the Constitution which requires any leader to furnish a list of majority members of the House and prove the majority again in the floor of the House within 30 days from the day of appointment.

However, the President now is obliged to invite the leader of the single largest party — in the current scenario Oli himself — to form the government under Article 76(3).

Oli had lost the vote of confidence vote on Monday after 28 members of his party abstained, reducing him to a minority. The vote of confidence that he had moved was defeated as it secured only 93 votes, with 124 voting against it, and 28 dissidents abstaining.