Former prime ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and Madhav Nepal of the splinter group of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Tuesday asked supporters to gather in the capital Kathmandu valley for a scheduled rally on Wednesday. 

Releasing a video on Tuesday, Dahal and Madhav requested people to attend the Wednesday rally in large numbers. The rally comes in response to, what many call, the Oli’s show of strength on 5 January rally in Kathmandu. 

Nepal’s ruling party witnessed a split last year when Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the lower house of parliament and called early elections. The dissolution decision by Oli came after months-long infighting in the party where he faced stiff resistance to his leadership from Dahal. 

Since the dissolution, the two factions have descended on streets to show the strength of their factions, in a bid to claim legitimacy over the party. A petition to formally acknowledge the split is still pending in the Election Commission.

Last week, the Dahal-Nepal faction had called for a nationwide general strike in Nepal. During the strike, incidents of violence and arson were also reported. In an effort to discredit the strike, Oli announced compensation during his last rally in Kathmandu for those who suffered losses.