Oli reappointed as Nepal PM as Opposition fails to muster majority to form new govt

Kathmandu, May 13 (PTI) K P Sharma Oli, in his capacity as leer of largest political party in Nepal's Parliament, was reappointed as Prime Minister on Thursday night after Opposition parties, riddled by factionalism, failed to secure majority seats to form a new government.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari reappointed CPN-UML Chairman Oli, 69, as Prime Minister, three days after he lost a crucial trust vote in House of Representatives.

Office of President in a press statement on Thursday evening said that President Bhandari reappointed Oli as Prime Minister in his capacity as leer of largest political party in House of Representatives as per Article 78(3) of Constitution of Nepal.

President Bhandari will minister oath of office and secrecy to Oli at a ceremony at Shital Niwas on Friday.

president h asked Opposition parties to come up with support of majority lawmakers to form a new government by 9 pm Thursday after Oli, lost vote of confidence in House on Monday.

Oli's appointment came shortly after Office of President said that two parties or more than two parties came to lay claim to forming coalition government by given deline that expired at 9 PM.

Oli will w have to take a vote of confidence at House within 30 days, failing which, an attempt to form a government under Article 76 (5) would be initiated. Should both steps fail, House may face ar dissolution and country will move towards direction of early elections.

Political parties were engd in hectic negotiations to form a coalition government under Article 76 (2) for past three days, but failed to bear any fruit.

Until Thursday, Nepali Congress president, who got backing from CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpakamal Dahal "Prachanda" was hopeful to get sufficient votes in House to stake his claim as next Prime Minister.

But as Mhav Kumar Nepal took a U-turn after his last-minute meeting with Oli, Deuba's dream to become next Prime Minster was shattered.

dissident faction led by Mhav Nepal within CPN-UML, with ir 28-member strength in Parliament h earlier decided to resign enmasse from Parliament paving way for Deuba to claim for post of Prime Minister.

On or hand, Janata Samajwi Party was also divided on issue of extending support to Deuba as next Prime Minister.

Upendra Yav, President of JSP h assured Deuba to extend support, but Mahanta Thakur, ar president of party, who has backing from 17 out of 32 Lawmakers, rejected Upendra's idea.

CPN-UMl, heed by Oli is largest party with 121 seats in House of Representatives. However, Oli, needs to prove majority through a vote of trust in Parliament within a month of his re-appointment.

Nepali Congress and Maoist Centre have 61 and 49 seats in lower house. ir combined strength was 110, which is insufficient to win majority vote.

At present 136 votes are needed to form a majority government.

Oli withdrew action taken against four UML leers including Nepal and assured to dress ir or demands. If 28 UML MPs h resigned, total strength of House would have been reduced to 243. Currently re are 271 valid members in House. If y h resigned only 122 votes would be sufficient to stake claim for majority government.

Earlier, Baburam Bhattarai, a senior leer of JSP-N, said all parties needed to form a new national coalition government and hold elections in one year.

Bhattarai said such a government should t be led by a former prime minister or current prime minister.

Bhattarai said such a government should be run based on a common minimum programme, should resolve COVID crisis, and ensure ecomic relief packs, constitution amendment, and truth and reconciliation.

Given parties’ strengths and particularly factional feuds in CPN-UML and Janata Samajbi, many say current numbers game is just a futile exercise and that country, which has h eight different governments in a dece, would sooner or later he towards early polls, Kathmandu Post reported.

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved House and anunced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

Oli's move to dissolve House sparked protests from a large section of NCP led by his rival 'Prachanda'.

In February, apex court reinstated dissolved House, in a setback to Oli who was preparing for snap polls. Kwn for his pro-China stance, Oli h earlier served as country's prime minister from October 11, 2015 to August 3, 2016 during which Kathmandu's ties with New Delhi h strained.

Nepal's COVID-19 cases reached 431,191 as 8,842 fresh cases were reported in past 24 hours on Thursday. As many as 214 more deaths were also logged, taking national toll to 4,466. PTI SBP NSA PMS SCY AKJ AKJ