By Our Reporter
In a dramatic development, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has decided to seek a vote of confidence in the parliament on May 10. He also recommended the President to summon the special session of the House for the same which was dully done by the President by summoning the House.
The Prime Minister choose to take the vote of confidence in a special session instead of taking it in the budget session which should be summoned within a few days or even in the previous session. This is where smells a rat in his intention.
Firstly, he wants to avoid parliament, because if he fails to garner the required votes, he will dissolve the House. The issuance of seven ordinances on Tuesday also reveals his hidden intention to avoid the parliament. Normally, ordinances are brought when there is no session. But in Nepal, a session was prorogued recently and another should be summoned within a week.
Oli who reached power with his nationalist slogans three years ago is now fully backed by India, which wants the next elections in Nepal should be held under Oli’s leadership. The friendship between the former foes—Oli and Rajendra Mahato and Mahantha Thakur is a testimony to this. And he has decided to seek the vote of confidence under the same design. Even if he fails to garner 136 votes, he will try his best to create a situation in which the formation of a new government will be impossible. An alternative government is impossible unless all lawmakers of the Janata Samajwadi Party stand together. But the party is on the verge of the split with Thakur and Mahato backing Oli and Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Upendra Yadav seeking an alternative to the Oli-led regime.
However, if all lawmakers of Madhav Nepal faction resigned in masse, an alternative government could be possible under the leadership of NC’s Sher Bahadur Deuba. Now NC has 61 lawmakers and the Maoist Centre 48 whereas the JSPN has 32 lawmakers. The UML has 121 lawmakers with about 23 lawmakers close to Madhav Kumar Nepal.
When the PM decided to seek a vote of confidence, other parties are busy making strategies. The Nepali Congress held a meeting on Monday and decided to stand against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s move to seek a vote of confidence.
A meeting of the former and present office-bearers of the party’s Central Working Committee held at party president Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Budhanilkantha-based residence on Monday decided to stand against the Prime Minister.
After the meeting, NC joint general secretary Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said that the meeting decided to vote against Prime Minister Oli in the special session of the HOR summoned by the President for May 10.
He said that his party would decide and initiate the process to form an alternative government after failing the PM’s attempt to seek the vote of confidence.
The meeting also decided to forge alliance with the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist Centre) in the upcoming election to the National Assembly. Two seats of the NA have fallen vacant. The NC and NCP-MC agreed to share one seat each.
Maoist Centre decides to withdraw its support:
The CPN (Maoist Centre) has decided to withdraw its support given to the government led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. A meeting of the party’s standing committee on Tuesday took such a decision.
Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said, “It is a well-known fact that our party doesn’t support this government. So the issuance of a formal letter of withdrawal is not a new one,” he said after the meeting.
“We have decided to withdraw our support long ago, but were waiting for the issuance of the formal letter of the withdrawal. So, the party had given the right to party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to decide when to issue the formal letter of withdrawal.”
The party would soon send a letter to the Parliament Secretariat about the party’s decision, he added.
The Maoist-Centre took the decision two days after PM Oli decided to seek the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives.
Prime Minister Oli on Sunday decided to prove his majority in the House on May 10.
Chairman of CPN-UML Oli was elected as Prime Minister in February 2018 with the support of the CPN (MC).
The CPN-UML and CPN (MC) had merged in May 2018 to form a unified Nepal Communist Party (NCP) following the victory of their alliance in the 2017 general elections, but now they have again divided as separate parties after a Supreme Court verdict of March 7.
Govt violates democratic norms, values, morale
The government led by KP Sharma Oli of the CPN-UML has been breaching all norms, values and morale of democracy as well as the Constitution. The Prime Minister that dissolved the House of Representatives using the power which is not given by the Constitution has recently performed a naked dance in Lumbini Province by reappointing Shankar Pokhrel as its chief minister even though he was in minority clearly.
Pokhrel resigned to avoid a no-confidence motion and got reappointment hours after tendering resignation. When 42 assembly members of the Province were against him, he was appointed CM although he has the support of only 39 assembly members.
Moreover, Province Chief Dharmanath Sah reached the CM’s residence to administer him the oath of office and secrecy.
The situation is no different in Gandaki. When the process to vote against a no-confidence motion against the chief minister had begun, the government not only kidnapped an assembly member and kept him in COVID-19 ward but also dismissed Province Chief Amik Serchan and appointed Prime Minister Oli’s yes woman to the post.
What the Prime Minister and his party have been doing over the months, clearly signal that the UML has no faith in the constitution and in the democratic system. Similarly, the Maoist Center, with the plan of ousting a sitting prime minister, is also responsible for destroying the present constitution. Both parties want to capture the state mechanism at any cost. accordingly, the Madhav Nepal faction is planning to fail the government of its own party, UML.
The activities of the government and the opposition do not match the spirit of loktantra and the federal system, which means the latest political system adopted in Nepal has also failed.
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