In a rather expected yet unexpected move, the ruling Nepal Communist Party members voted to expel PM K.P. Sharma Oli from the party’s general membership. Said resolution was tabled by a faction led by former PM Pushpa Kamal Dehel Prachanda, in a STANDING COMMITTEE meeting of the NCP yesterday.
Today as we look into the why of this, we shall even skim through the related crisis in Nepal through this incident’s perspective.
WHY THIS STEP??
The most prominent reason that we can hear currently, is that Oli failed to present a worthy enough explanation for his actions, the Himalayan Times reported. Party leadership claims that this is part of the disciplinary action of the party Constitution. Briefly speaking, it punishes party members for going against party’s policies, programmes, legal system and party decisions.
This resolution came 2 days after the Prachanda faction’s anti-government rally. This was against PM Oli’s decision to dissolve the 275-member House in December. The faction called this decision to be severe blow to Nepal’s hard earned Democratic-Republic system. Additionally, it severely violated the constitution; one brought by years of struggle. Madhav Nepal, the man who replaced Oli as Party Chair even said that the constitution does not give right to the PM to dissolve the House. It was for this reason again that the party expelled Oli from the position of Party chair. Earlier, Prachanda and Oli were the 2 chairs of NCP but after this move, Madhav Nepal replaced Oli.
So, unlike earlier where Oli was a member of the party despite not being chairman, this decision strips him off ordinary membership as well.
HOW DID OLI LAND IN A POWDERCAKE??
It all started in December 20, or can we say it all precipitated then. The power tussle between Prachanda and Oli was always evident, due to the latter’s pro-China leanings. Thus, this was the date when Oli decided to dissolve the House amidst this power struggle. He justifies it by claiming that the Prachanda-led faction was planning a No-Confidence Motion against him. On top of that, also an Impeachment motion against President Bidya Devi Bhandari.
Leader of Prachanda Faction: Pushpa Kamal Dehel Prachanda 
President of Nepal: Bidya Devi Bhandari
The Prachanda faction claims that this action of Oli has violated the party stature. Apart from this action by Oli, what is outraging the splinter group even more is his lack of responsibility. Neither has Oli defended his actions properly nor is he willing to furnish any clarification on the floor of the House. The result being; Oli has now lost not just his chairmanship, but also his primary membership.
NEIGHBORS WEIGH IN
In December itself, China had sent a 4-member high level delegation to Nepal to prevent a split. Guo Yezhou (Vice Minister, CCP) even held separate meetings with top NCP leaders. This mission however ended up in failure, as we can see it’s aftermaths.
India has also weighed in on the situation. It’s more or less in line with what policy considerations have been since time immemorial. India has labelled this as the internal matter of Nepal, that it shall solve as per democratic processes.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR OLI & CO?
Currently we have no idea regarding how a PM will run the country without having member access to his own party. Said party is also on the verge of imploding, if no split happens soon enough.
Both factions, the Oli-led CPN-UML & Prachanda-led NCP(Maoist Centre), have submitted separate applications to the Election Commission. Both claim to be the genuine version of the party and thus demand the symbol to be put on them. The Election Commission is yet to decide the matter.