India says Nepal’s political developments its internal matter

Ebangla Bureau

SUKUMAR Roy 

NEPAL Premier K P Sharma   Oli does not seem to have come out of the woods even after dissolution of the Parliament amid reports that the  Central Committee of the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party has unanimously decided to elevate senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal as the party’s chair and take disciplinary action against  Oli.“Now Dahal and Nepal will chair the meetings in turn as stated in the party statue,” said Rekha Sharma, a central committee member. The Kathmandu Post says “Oli has been expelled as the party chair for going against the party. “The meeting of its parliamentary party will elect Dahal as the parliamentary party leader ousting Oli as the Dahal-Nepal faction’s Central Committee decided to oust him as party chair. While the other chair Oli said he would not take any action against any leaders, the Dahal-Nepal faction, having majority in all the party committees, decided to take disciplinary action against Oli on Sunday. The meeting of the Oli faction’s Central Committee had ousted Narayan Kaji Shrestha as party spokesperson and appointed Pradeep Gyawali as the new spokesperson. Addressing the meeting, Dahal said more than 66 percent of the central committee members are present in the meeting including all former Maoists and leaders who had led the former CPN-UML many times referring to Madhav Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal. Meanwhile, a  high-level Chinese delegation led by Vice Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Guo Yezhou visited Nepal and held separate talks with top leaders of the warring factions of the ruling party to patch up differences between them. The Chinese delegation returned home on Wednesday after concluding its four-day visit to Kathmandu while the political crisis continued in Nepal. At a media briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin skipped any references to the political crisis in Nepal and China’s efforts to bring about a rapprochement between Nepal’s feuding leaders. Wang said the Chinese delegation met the leaders of both the ruling party and the opposition in Nepal and exchanged views on conducting inter-party interactions and mutual learning, advancing practical Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation and other issues of mutual concern. “The Nepalese side congratulated the CPC on the upcoming 100th anniversary of its founding and expressed willingness to deepen traditional friendship,” Wang said. India has described Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s sudden decision to dissolve Parliament and call for fresh elections as an “internal matter” that is for the country to decide as per its democratic processes. In a guarded reaction to political developments in Nepal, India said it will continue to support the neighbouring country and its people in moving forward on the path of peace, prosperity and development, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.