Nepal PM Oli expelled from ruling Communist Party

Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was removed from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) after a Central Committee Meeting of the party's splinter group on Sunday.

"His membership has been revoked," the spokesperson for the splinter group, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, confirmed to news agency ANI.

On Friday, the rival faction leaders of the party had threatened to revoke Oli's membership, as they took to the streets for the second time in less than a month to protest against his decision to dissolve the Parliament on December 20 last year, calling for fresh elections for April and May this year.

This decision, taken in the face of internal rift in the ruling party, was approved by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

An order for clarification over his move was sent to the PM, Madhav Kumar Nepal, a leader of the rival faction of NCP, had earlier said. "We ousted Oli from the post of Chairman of the ruling NCP. Now, we will take disciplinary actions against him as he is not fit to remain a member of the Communist Party and we have ordered him to provide clarifications. He has not replied to us till date," he said, adding that there was no scope of coalition with Oli even if he rectified his latest mistake.

"No one should be under the impression that the NCP would bow down to KP Oli. It will never happen as we do politics on the basis of value and beliefs," he said.

Soon after Oli announced his controversial decision, the NCP split into two factions. While both claim to be the faction that has inherited the authentic essence of the party, it depends on the Election Commission to decide on which faction will retain the election emblem of the "sun".

Source: Hindustan Times