POKHARA, Feb 25: Prime Minister KP Oli has accused opposition forces of inciting leaders within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to make the current government unsuccessful.

Addressing an orientation program organized for province-level party cadres in Pokhara on Monday, Prime Minister Oli said that reactionary forces were trying to ‘increase the ambition’ of certain leaders within the NCP to create problems for the government. Although he did not mention names, Prime Minister Oli said that numerous forces were currently active to ‘increase ambition’ of some party leaders and create rift within the ruling party.

The remark by Prime Minister Oli comes at a time when he finds himself in a minority after another party chairman, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal brought Bamdev Gautam and Jhalanath Khanal to their side in the party secretariat. Dahal and Nepal have floated a proposal to amend the constitution for allowing Gautam, who is poised to be nominated a member of the National Assembly, to become prime minister – something the Oli faction within the NCP has opposed outright. 

Gautam has an ambition to become prime minister. However, existing constitutional provisions allow only those directly elected to the House of Representatives (HoR) to be eligible for prime minister. 

According to NCP leaders attending the orientation program, Prime Minister Oli alleged that opposition parties were busy setting traps and using different instruments and propaganda to attack the government.

Oli also claimed that all the activities of the opposition parties were aimed at creating problems, defaming their movement and weakening the government by creating a rift within the NCP. He came down heavily against opposition parties for raising a fuss over even non-issues in an apparent bid to make the government unsuccessful. “They are making even non-issues into big issues for their protests. Why is this happening? They are doing this just to maintain their own existence. The other consideration could have been to do something to keep themselves engaged,” he said. 

Prime Minister Oli also termed the opposition parties ‘chicken’. “A chick runs after a cricket. But others tend to run after it without knowing what the chicken has picked up. Opposition parties are also running like chicken in this manner,” he further said, satirizing the opposition parties including the NC. 

Oli also said that he would not compromise with anyone on the issues of the country’s sovereignty, national interest and national independence. He spoke of his commitment to safeguarding the achievements gained through the supreme sacrifice of the martyrs. 

Senior NCP leader Jhalanath Khanal said that the main hindrance for the prosperity of the world was American imperialism. He argued that Nepal could move forward on the path of prosperity only if the party is strengthened and kept united to fight against such tendencies. 

While in Pokhara, Prime Minister Oli was greeted with black flags by Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Students Union (NSU) activists. The NSU activists showed him black flags over the multi-million dollar scam involving a security printing press, the government’s decision to give prime properties of Nepal Trust to Yeti Holdings without any competitive bidding and different corruption cases the current government is allegedly involved in.

 
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