ML instructs its lawmakers to take back signatures supporting Deuba for PM

Kathmandu, July 2- CPN-UML has instructed the party lawmakers who signed in support of making Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba PM to withdraw their signatures.

The party’s central committee meeting at Baluwatar on Friday, that was boycotted by the Khanal-Nepal faction, has instructed the lawmakers to withdraw their signatures within two days, according to a central member who attended the meeting.

A total of 26 UML House of Representatives (HoR) members had signed in the letter that Deuba submitted to President Bidya Devi Bhandari to stake claim for the government as per Article 76(5) of the Constitution.

Addressing the meeting Chairman and Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli claimed that the president has been attacked in a planned manner. “President is a constitutional institution. There are efforts to continuously attack the institution,” a leader quoted Oli as saying during the meeting. “One cannot tolerate efforts to make leader of another party the PM and to benefit other party. We are ready for maximum flexibility to save party unity. Our movement is very strong. We are ready to move forward strongly by retaliating against the internal and external attacks.”

Oli also pulled Vice-Chairman Bam Dev Gautam’s leg telling him to not continue his trend of attending and boycotting the party meetings, and to regularly attend the meetings.

Gautam attended the central committee meeting pointing that invitation was sent to attend it in capacity granted by the ninth general convention, and the party has pledged to return to the state before unification with CPN (Maoist Center) and called the central committee meeting accordingly.

Gautam has remained neutral in the factional war in the party since Oli first dissolved the House on December 20, 2020.

The Khanal-Nepal faction, however, boycotted the meeting.

UML dissolved the organizing committee for the 10th general convention. The organizing committee’s meeting at Baluwatar on Wednesday decided to transform the committee into central committee. The central committee’s meeting was then called for Friday as per the decision of the organizing committee.

UML Vice-Chairman Yuvaraj Gyawali told Setopati that the standing committee meeting of the faction on Thursday concluded that there is no meaning of attending the meeting called without the faction’s consent

“Calling a meeting by an illegal committee is illegal in itself. We will, therefore, not attend such meetings,” he stated on Thursday. “We are for party unity. There should be initiative for that. Formal talks will have to start for that now.”

Oli had unilaterally dissolved the central committee and formed the organizing committee after the Supreme Court (SC) invalidated the party’s unification with CPN (Maoist Center) restoring the parties to the state before unification.

Oli has taken action against leaders of the Khanal-Nepal faction through the organizing committee even as the dissident faction has been demanding that the party be restored to the state before unification with Maoist Center.

Oli was under pressure to revive the central committee after the SC recently ruled that the organizing committee cannot take long-term decisions like the central committee.

The dissident faction, however, has called the Wednesday decision a sham and claimed it has been done as part of a conspiracy to cheat them pointing how it was taken unilaterally without consulting them.