Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has recommended dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) amidst escalating dispute in ruling CPN.
The Cabinet meeting Sunday has recommended for dissolution of the House, Energy Minister Brasha Man Pun has confirmed. The Act on which the recommendation has been based has yet to be revealed.
The Constitution does not have clear provision about House dissolution. Article 85(1) of the Constitution states 'Except when dissolved earlier, the term of House of Representatives shall be five years.'
Some constitutional experts argue that the Constitution envisions House dissolution due to the use of term 'dissolved earlier'. But others argue that the provision has been kept for the situation of inability to choose the PM.
Article 76(7) states 'If the Prime Minister appointed according to clause (5) fails to get the vote of confidence or if any member fails to be appointed as Prime Minister, the President shall, on the recommendation of Prime Minister, dissolve the House of Representatives and fix a date to conduct another election within six months.'
PM Oli has opted for House dissolution at a time the overwhelming majority of the party is preparing to remove him.
Ruling CPN has been mired in stop-start internal dispute for almost year. The latest dispute had reached boiling point after Oli on Tuesday unilaterally issued the ordinance with a provision that allows decision in the Constitutional Council with support of the majority of the existing members without discussing the ordinance in the Cabinet meeting.
The existing Constitutional Council Act required presence of four members apart from the PM to constitute quorum, and decision can only be taken through consensus.
Oli had unilaterally brought the ordinance, and President Bidya Devi Bhandari hastily authenticated it, after Speaker Agni Sapkota did not attend the meeting called Tuesday morning apparently under instruction of CPN Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
The ordinance was widely condemned by the opposition parties and ruling CPN alike. The majority of CPN secretariat members held meeting at Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal's residence Tuesday evening and demanded immediate withdrawal of the ordinance.
Oli finally made an about turn and pledged to withdraw the ordinance in the standing committee meeting later on Wednesday after knowing that the faction of Dahal and Senior Leader Madhav Kumar Nepal prepared to demand special House session and register no confidence motion against him.
But he has yet to withdraw the ordinance.
CPN chairmen have resorted to making formal allegations against each other in their reports with Dahal making the allegations first in his political proposal. Oli responded to Dahal's proposal making counter allegations against Dahal.
Oli challenged fellow Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to legally prove corruption allegations or apologize for the allegations or be ready to face punishment if he doesn't apologize.
Oli stated in his response that criminal allegations cannot be discussed politically and said the party should adopt legal way for criminal accusations. He added that the criminal allegations should either be proved or there should be apology on that or Dahal should face punishment for groundless allegations if he doesn't apologize.
Oli also accused Dahal of nepotism in his response to Dahal's political proposal that he presented to the secretariat meeting Saturday afternoon. "There is nepotism in you. Making daughter-in-law minister, daughter mayor and nephew ambassador is not socialism," Oli's report accuses.
Dahal had presented a 19-page proposal with consent of the majority of secretariat members during the secretariat meeting on November 13 criticizing CPN Chairman and Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli and slamming him for failing to properly run both the government and the party. He has also made corruption allegations against Oli in the proposal.
Oli has already announced end of past agreements and understanding with fellow Dahal after the proposal and those in the Oli camp have been demanding withdrawal of the proposal.
The ruling party is again facing a grave crisis with Dahal claiming that PM Oli has proposed to split the ruling party even as Oli is in minority in parliamentary party, secretariat, standing committee and central committee.
Dahal, Khanal, Nepal and Shrestha have been together in the fight against Oli all the time while Gautam keeps on changing camps. Gautam is angry with Oli now after he was not inducted in the Cabinet in the latest Cabinet reshuffle.
Sources close to Oli, however, have claimed that Dahal has demanded the post of PM.
Dahal is reportedly aggrieved about the Karnali dispute, Cabinet reshuffle, Oli's meeting with Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Samant Kumar Goel, murder of a party cadre in Parsa and other issues.
Oli and Dahal had signed a five-point agreement at the time of unification of the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) on May 17, 2018. The two parties had unified to form CPN the next day on the basis of the five-point agreement.
The fourth point of the agreement mentioned that the two chairmen will lead the government as necessary on the basis of equality and equal period.
But Dahal had relinquished his claim for the post of PM after the two chairmen signed an agreement on division of responsibilities in presence of President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on November 20, 2019.
Dahal was made chairman with executive rights. Oli and Dahal were to remain chairmen, and Oli to continue to be ranked top but Oli had handed over the executive rights to Dahal.
Dahal was to lead the party and chair party meetings while Oli would lead the government through the current term of House of Representatives, according to the agreement.
The party was then on the verge of split with Dahal aggrieved that Oli continues to run even the party unilaterally and the overwhelming majority of members during the last standing committee meeting seeking resignation of PM Oli.
The two chairmen then formed a six-strong task force in August to resolve internal dispute in the party. The standing committee meeting then took decision on the basis of the report submitted by the task force that recommended that Oli would serve the full five-year term as PM and Dahal would take the wheel of the party.
Dahal was to be fully active in party works but required to consult PM Oli who will remain a sort of ceremonial chairman. Similarly, PM Oli was required to move the government works forward consulting Dahal.
But Oli has unilaterally made appointments of ambassadors and reshuffled Cabinet without endorsement of Dahal since the standing committee decision.
