The house session on Friday night. Photo: RSSCPN (Maoist-Centre) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal tabled a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister KP Oli in Parliament on Friday night.
Delivering a long speech in Parliament before tabling the motion, Dahal accused Oli of 'using the Maoists as a ladder to serve his own interests' and 'conspiring to weaken the Maoists'.
"We did not want to break this coalition, but we had to take this step because of PM Oli himself," said Dahal. "He showed an ego-centric and self-centred attitude."
Dahal also dubbed Oli an 'anti-federalist' and 'averse to republicanism and principles of inclusion'. "PM Oli has publicly said that he never liked the idea of federalism, and he was compelled to embrace it," said Dahal. "In the last nine months, we realised that he does not even support republicanism and inclusion, and likes those political forces that want to revive the monarchy."
Dahal himself had proposed Oli as the new Prime Minister in October last year. With the withdrawal of support by Dahal, the Oli government has now been reduced to a caretaker, and will be replaced by a new ruling coalition next week.
Dahal has already reached an agreement with NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba to lead the new government. Madhesi parties, irked by Oli's indifference towards their grievances, have vowed to support the Dahal-Deuba coalition.
Backed by Deuba, Dahal had filed a no-confidence motion against Oli last week. But he could only table it in the House on Friday night, as Parliament had been adjourned three times due a dispute over whether to bring up the no-confidence motion first, or the budget bills.
Oli's UML party had threatened to disrupt the House if the no-confidence motion were tabled before the budget bills. But the NC and the Maoists wanted to oust Oli before discussing the budget bills. After days of inconclusive negotiations, they agreed to allow the House to discuss the budget bills first. But they have voted against those bills, casting a shadow over the implementation of the new budget.
Parliament is discussing the no-confidence motion for three days. Members of Parliament will vote for or against the motion on Sunday.