Nepal’s ruling coalition led by Prime Minister K P Oli, who is also the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, has come under major stress with the biggest partner in the alliance, Nepali Congress, taking a firm stance that the PM should not sign the Belt and Road Initiative projects with loan component during his scheduled trip to Beijing beginning December 2. Top Nepali Congress leaders, including Foreign Affairs Minister Arzu Rana Deuba, have reportedly told the Prime Minister that he should sign the BRI execution framework treaty only if the projects include hundred per cent grants, something that China is not interested in. In a meeting on Tuesday attended by top leaders including PM Oli and his key advisor Bishnu Rimal from UML and Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba, his wife and Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba and NC general secretary Gagan Thapa, Oli failed to secure NC endorsement to sign the BRI framework treaty. Oli had assured Beijing to give formal and final shape to the agreement Nepal and China signed in 2017. At the meeting, The Indian Express learnt, Oli indicated that it would be difficult for him to back out on the assurance he has given to China, implying he may have to overrule the NC demand, which is likely to lead to a political fallout at home. Speaking to reporters, Pradip Gyawali, under secretary general of the UML and former foreign affairs minister, on Wednesday hoped that the two sides will reach an understanding before the five-day official visit begins. Arzu Deuba is scheduled to proceed to China on November 25 and join PM Oli and his entourage when he arrives there on December 2. Oli’s China visit, his first bilateral, comes as a rebound after India, customarily the first external destination for any newly appointed Nepali PM, refused to extend an invitation to Oli during the five months of Oli’s latest term.
