Nepal PM K P Oli responds to criticism, says development will take time

He had campaigned on liberating people from having to carry cooking gas cylinders on their shoulders — implying there will be centrally supplied gas pipeline for each house — that Nepal will have its own flag-carrying ship within the year, and that he would improve infrastructure and remove potholes on roads. “Where does the Constitution stop me from being a visionary?” was his response whenever his promises were called unrealistic.

But as Oli came under increasing criticism — he was ridiculed by cartoonists for successfully making Kathmandu the “city of ships” when motor vehicles were half-submerged on flooded roads during rains — he seems to have changed his rhetoric.

His remarks came on the eve of the secretariat meeting of the Communist Party, following a letter of dissent lodged with the party secretariat by senior leader and ex-PM Madhav Kumar Nepal, alleging that Oli was bypassing the standing committee while appointing provincial committees.