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Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is set to face a floor test in Parliament on Monday on his proposal to seek a vote of confidence that has divided the country's political landscape.
Oli needs 136 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives to win the vote of confidence. But just hours ahead of the voting, the two opposition parties, Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), have already announced that they will not vote for Oli. And, Oli himself is in a difficult position inside the ruling Nepal Communist Party as over 21 lawmakers have threatened to quit as he failed to meet their demands. They have served a deadline to address their demands by Monday morning. If Oli fails to address our demands we will put in our resignations, senior party leader and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said. He is leading a faction of disgruntled lawmakers inside the party. Oli needs at least 15 votes to survive, but none of political parties are going to support his bid. He was looking for the support of Janata Samajbadi Party that has 32 seats in the house. But the party has been vertically divided on whether to support Oli or not. A meeting of the senior party leaders of Janata Samajbadi Party decided not to impose a whip to its lawmakers, but two senior leaders former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and party Chairman Upendra Yadav, announced that they will vote against Oli. Bhattarai and Yadav have the support of 16 lawmakers. But another faction of the party led by another party Chairman Mahantha Thakur and Rajendra Mahato have decided to stay neutral and was not going to vote for or against Oli. They have 14 votes. Two other party members are yet to decide. The Janata Samajbadi Party is an alliance of former Madheshi parties. "We have not imposed any whip, our lawmakers can use their conscience but majority of us will vote against Oli," party chairman,Yadav said. On Sunday, Thakur and Mahato, who are considered close with Oli, made clear that they will not vote for him as their demands have not been fulfilled by the government. It is betterto remain neutral, Mahato said. The primary opposition, NC has taken a lead to form coalition government but due to division inside the Janata Samajbadi Party, its efforts could not materialise yet. "We are an opposition party and we have decided to vote against Oli," Joint Secretary General of Nepali Congress, Prakash Sharan Mahat said, adding that "we are also trying to form the coalition government too and talks are on with two other opposition parties". The third largest party, Maoist Centre, that had earlier merged the party with Oli's UML in 2018, has also decided to vote against Oli. The party merger between the UML and Maoist Centre was invalidated by the Supreme Court in March. After the Supreme Court's decision, the two have revived the old party structures and are going separately. The Maoist Centre withdrew support last week, after which the Oli government slipped in the minority. "We will discuss the further strategy of government formation only after Monday's voting," said Mahat. --IANS ag/ksk/ ( 546 Words) 2021-05-10-12:22:02 (IANS)
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