Nepal President Bidya Devi calls new session of National Assembly from Jan 1

After Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli dissolved the parliament last week, President Bidya Devi Bhandari on December 26 called a new session of the National Assembly from January 1. On Friday, in a major reshuffle, Oli inducted five new ministers in his cabinet. Seven ministers had resigned voicing disappointment at the PM’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives. 

As per Nepal’s constitution, the Prime Minister is allowed to form a Cabinet with a total of 25 members. Despite five new appointments, Oli is still tasked with making another eight appointments, one of them being the defence minister. President Bhandari, on the other hand, had administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers. 

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Nepal’s political crisis 

Meanwhile, last week, Nepal plunged into a political crisis after Oli got the President to dissolve Parliament, a controversial move amidst a prolonged tussle for power between him and former premier Prachanda' within the ruling dispensation. The Nepali leader was also under pressure to withdraw an ordinance related to the Constitutional Council Act that he had issued earlier and got endorsed by the president the same day. On December 20, Oli again called an emergency meeting with the Cabinet and announced that he was going to recommend the House dissolution to the parliament. 

The move came after the intra-party feud reached a climax in the ruling NCP which has been witnessing months-long tussle between two factions, one led by 68-year-old Oli and another led by 66-year-old ‘Prachanda’. The ruling party has now been virtually divided more than two years after it was formed following the merger of CPN-UML led by Oli and CPN-Maoist Centre led by Prachanda in May 2018. However, a formal split of the party is yet to be announced. Oli has defended his move to abruptly dissolve Parliament, saying he was forced to seek a fresh mandate through elections as the rift within the ruling Nepal Communist Party severely affected his government's functioning.

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