Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli said on Sunday that he had obtained the consent of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to dissolve the parliament and hold elections in two phases on April 30 and May 10 next year. According to media analysis, the raid has not only shocked the opposition within the CPN party to which it belongs, but has also incidentally put China, which has been behind Nepal’s political manipulation, in its place. Some Indian media have pointed out that China’s ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi, continues to quietly interfere in Nepal’s internal affairs.
The Hindustan Times quoted sources as saying that Oli’s move to dissolve the parliament has alarmed the opposition within the party. Sources said the move would free up Prime Minister Oli to lead the government and split the CPN and Maoist faction led by Prachada.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi, fearing that a split in the CPN would be detrimental to China, met intensively with Nepal’s communist leaders in late April and early May this year, hoping they would remain united, the report said, citing sources. Nepalese observers say China initially supported Oli, but changed tactics earlier this year with the intention of sacrificing him.
According to the newspaper, Prime Minister Oli told Hou Yanqi that he did not need foreign intervention and that he was capable of handling intra-party disputes on his own. Yet Hou Yanqi continues to quietly interfere in Nepal’s internal affairs. According to a source tracking political developments in Nepal, Hou Yanqi not only helped former Prime Minister Prachada weaken Oli, but also participated in a plot to remove him and replace him with Deputy Prime Minister Bamdev Gautam. The Indian newspaper pointed out that Prime Minister Oli’s dissolution of the National Assembly would frustrate China’s calculations.
The report also quoted Oli’s aide, Oli aide Rajan Bhattarai, as saying that the prime minister’s move was due to strong resistance from the party’s opposition, which wanted him to hand over the leadership of the party. So he decided to confront them head-on and resort to the latest public opinion.
The New York Times reports that both China and India are extremely concerned about the latest situation in Nepal.
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