Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has taken exception to a cartoon published by Kantipur on Sunday.
The cartoon by Abin Shrestha depicts PM Oli with the crown and has President Bidya Devi Bhandari in the outer breast pocket of his coat in a satire at the head of the state's recent actions favoring Oli.
"Attempt has been made to disgrace the republic by keeping the emblem of republic in the pocket of a dead institution," PM Oli fumed addressing an interaction program with journalists at Baluwatar on Sunday. "This is abuse of freedom of expression."
The role of President Bhandari as the guardian of Constitution has been widely slammed in recent times with her issuing ordinances against the spirit of Constitution and unconstitutionally dissolving the House on recommendation of Oli on December 20, 2020.
She also refused to recognize the signatures of 149 lawmakers who supported Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba to form new government as per Article 76(5) of the Constitution and then again dissolved the House on Oli's recommendation Friday midnight.
Speaking during the same program, he hinted at Cabinet expansion. Pointing that he currently has responsibility of seven different ministries with himself, he said the Cabinet will be reshuffled soon. He added that the total number of ministers may well exceed the limit of 25 set by the Constitution if parties agree to join his government to covert it into a national government for election.
