Sushil Koirala resigns: Nepal to have new PM, K P Sharma Oli front-runner

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The biggest surprise was the coming together of extreme left Maoists and extreme right RPP-N, respectively the third and fourth largest parties, in support of Oli. RPP-N, that has long been treated as a ‘pariah’, had contested the election to the constituent assembly with ‘Hindu Nepal’ and ‘Constitutional Monarchy’ agendas. It is believed that RPP-N chief Kamal Thapa will be assigned foreign affairs with the position of a Deputy Prime Minister in the event of Oli winning the race. Koirala, who had earlier announced to quit the post after promulgation of the Constitution on September 20, entered the race on Saturday after his party’s central committee decided to field him as the candidate again. “I am not in a position to defy the party,” Koirala said after his party’s two senior-most leaders, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Poudel proposed and seconded his name before parliament secretariat on Saturday.

However, there were voices of dissents coming from Maoists party. At least a dozen members of the party’s central committee, mostly followers of former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who recently quit the party and House membership, criticised the party’s decision to support Oli at a time when a “consensus was required to bring peace and stability in the country.” Similarly, Purna Bahadur Khadka, joint general secretary of the Nepali Congress, quit the post accusing his party leadership of ‘betraying’  Oli, despite his having been promised the ‘Prime Ministership’ after Koirala’s resignation following promulgation of the Constitution.

As of now, Oli has been pledged support of 183 members from his party (CPN-UML), 84 from the Maoists, 25 from the RPP-N and 37 other from small left groups. Koirala banks on the support of Nepali Congress that has 220 members in the House besides the likely support of about five dozen Madhes-centric parties.