Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Monday 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. In a live broadcast on state-owned Nepal Television, Oli asked everyone to be prepared for the elections on April 30 and May 10 next year.
“We hadn’t expected that we would ever need to take people’s mandate one-and-a-half year ahead of the schedule. The 2017 elections had given a clear mandate for political stability but the country being pushed into an endless controversy, inviting a situation of stalemate, left me with no options other than to go to the public again,” Oli said. Oli on Sunday sprang a surprise on his rivals and got the President to dissolve Parliament, a controversial move amidst a prolonged tussle for power between him and former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ within the ruling dispensation.
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