Ever since the dissolution of Nepal’s lower house of parliament on 20 December, the two factions of the ruling Nepal Communist Party have been questioning the legitimacy of each other over the party. But a speech by Prime Minister KP Sharma on Saturday was nothing short of a blistering verbal assault on his party rivals, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and Madhav Nepal. 

Addressing a meeting of active party workers, Oli trained his guns on former prime ministers, now his rivals, Dahal and Madhav Nepal. He compared them with “rotten fruits” and “corroded nut bolts,” as per a report on The Himalayan Times. 

“Two rotten fruits, which fell from the tree, are now claiming the ownership of the entire tree,” Oli said, mocking the claim filed by Dahal and Madhav faction with the Election Commission on the party. He further said, he knew about the claim only when he received a letter from the Election Commission. 

Dahal and Nepal faction filed a claim with the Election Commission claiming to be the legitimate and authentic party. Oli mocked the claim, saying the party isn’t a sweet to be determined as authentic or fake. 

Oli said, “Is it necessary for the house owner to file an application to claim his house? We have made this party.” Referring to Dahal and Madhav Nepal, he further said, the party has begun to function properly since two corroded nut bolts loosened and fell apart. 

Backing Oli’s stand in the party, his ally and the Deputy Prime Minister, Ishwar Pokhrel, blamed Dahal and Madhav for bringing the party to this crisis point. “The party reached the point of splitting up after they manoeuvred to remove KP Sharma Oli from the post of Prime Minister and party chair,” Pokhrel was quoted as saying by The Himalayan Times. 

The split in the ruling Communist Party happened when Prime Minister Oli led cabinet recommended the dissolution of the lower house of parliament on December 20 last year. Within hours, Nepal’s President Bidhya Devi Bhandari approved the dissolution. 

The move infuriated Dahal’s faction that had been, for months, trying to force Oli to resign from the post of prime minister. Two factions, each led by party strongmen Oli and Dahal, have started holding separate party meetings thereafter, thus ending the hardly three-year-old unification of the different communist factions in Nepal.  

At least 22 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the lower house. Other political parties, as well as the Dahal faction, are calling the dissolution “unconstitutional,” and now seeking the nullification of the December 20 decision.