KATHMANDU: The ruling faction of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Nepal, led by Chief Executive Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, removed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the post of chair on Tuesday and decided to take disciplinary action against him, dividing practically to the party for more than two years. after their training.
The Central Committee unanimously appointed senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal as the second party chairman in place of Oli. Prachanda is the first president of the party.
“Now Dahal and Nepal will chair the meetings in turn, as indicated by the party statue,” said Rekha Sharma, a member of the central committee.
“Oli has been expelled as president of the party for going against the party,” Sharma told the Kathmandu Post.
Former Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal and former Agriculture Minister Ghanashyam Bhushal were among the top leaders attending the Central Committee meeting of the Prachanda-led faction.
Almost two-thirds of the members of the Central Committee were present at the meeting. Of the 446 members of the central committee, 313 were present at the meeting organized by the faction led by Prachanda.
Prachanda would be elected as the leader of the parliamentary party on Wednesday, the newspaper said, citing party leaders.
The Prachanda-led faction, which has a majority in all party committees, decided to take disciplinary action against Oli on Sunday, the newspaper said.
The next meeting of the Central Committee is scheduled for Thursday, party spokesman Narayankaji Shrestha said.
The Prachanda-led faction has also decided to file a separate petition in the Supreme Court to request the reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives. Eleven auto petitions have already been filed in the supreme court on Sunday and Monday demanding reinstatement.
The party will also launch nationwide protest rallies in collaboration with other major political parties, said Sunil Manandhar, a central member of the party.
Hours earlier, Prime Minister Oli, one of the two chairmen of the ruling party, organized a separate meeting of the Central Committee leaders near him in Baluwatar, the prime minister’s official residence.
Oli announced a new 1,199-member committee to organize the party’s general convention on November 18-23 in Kathmandu next year. Previously, the party’s convention was scheduled for April 7-12, 2021.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pradeep Gyawali, a member of the Standing Committee, was appointed as the new party spokesman by the faction led by Oli.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis on Sunday after Oli managed to get the president to dissolve parliament, a controversial move amid a protracted power dispute between him and former prime minister ‘Prachanda’ within the government.
The ruling party has been practically divided for more than two years after its formation after the merger of the CPN-UML led by Oli and the CPN-Maoist Center led by Prachanda.
However, a formal split of the party has yet to be announced.
Both factions of the party have stepped up their efforts to maintain official recognition of the party alongside the electoral symbol. The two factions are now busy strategizing to wrest control of the group.
The Oli-led faction submitted an application to the Electoral Commission on Tuesday claiming that their party should obtain official recognition. Oli had added 556 new members of the Central Committee when applying to the Election Commission.
On Monday, the Prachanda-led faction informed the Election Commission of the party’s Standing Committee’s decision to take action against President Oli for violating party discipline.
Oli has defended his decision to abruptly dissolve Parliament, saying that he was forced to seek a new term through elections, as the gap within the ruling Communist Party of Nepal seriously affected the functioning of his government.
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