Nepal’s ruling CPN-UML chair and prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli has given an ultimatum to the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led party faction to withdraw the signatures in the writ petition filed at the Supreme Court demanding the restoration of the House of Representatives and the appointment of Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister.

Or else unity between the two factions will not be possible, Oli has warned, according to Kathmandu Post.

“Party unity is not possible if they refuse to withdraw their signatures by 5 pm Monday,” a leader quoted Oli as saying at the party’s Central Committee meeting. “No UML member can make a Congress leader prime minister. This is not acceptable.”

But the Nepal faction remains defiant.

“We won’t follow his orders,” said Ghanshyam Bhusal, a deputy general secretary of UML who is with the Nepal faction. “Now we don’t care about any of his actions or punishments. We will wait until the court’s verdict.”

On May 24, two days after President Bidya Devi Bhandari invalidated the claim Deuba made to form the government, 146 lawmakers of the dissolved lower house went to court. Of them 23 belong to the UML.

The President had refused to appoint Deuba saying that his claim, despite having the support of 149 members of the 275-member House, was
"insufficient".

 On May 21 Oli too had staked a claim to the government as per Article 76 (5) of the constitution, saying he had the backing of 153 lawmakers from his party, UML, and the Janata Samajbadi Party.

A five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court has been hearing the case since June 23.

The final verdict is expected next week.

Analysts say the UML has reached a point where the two warring factions can neither move ahead nor turn back. Nothing will happen in the UML until the Supreme Court’s verdict, according to them.

Ever since Oli dissolved the House, his position has become untenable, as the Supreme Court has passed at least half a dozen orders against his government’s decisions, The Kathmandu Post reported.

(SAM)