'Efforts on to oust me': Nepal's KP Oli accuses India, amid border dispute, of conspiring with local politicos to topple his govt

Kathmandu: Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sunday claimed that efforts are being made to oust him after his government redrew the country’s political map by incorporating three strategically key Indian territories. “Efforts are being made to remove me from power, but that will not succeed,” Oli claimed, without naming any person or country. He said nobody has openly asked him to quit. “But I have smelt undercurrent movements,” Oli said while speaking at an event to commemorate the 69th birth anniversary of the popular leader of the Nepal Communist Party late Madan Bhandari at the Prime Minister’s residence. “There have been various kinds of activities in the embassies and hotels,” he claimed. “If you listen to the news media from Delhi, you will get the gesture.” He said some Nepalese leaders were also involved in the game to remove him immediately. [caption id=“attachment_8536521” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of KP Sharma Oli. Reuters[/caption] The differences between Prime Minister Oli and his opponents including the ruling party’s executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” have surfaced during the ongoing Standing Committee meeting of the party. Oli, who faced criticism within his party for skipping the first and the second day of the Standing Committee meetings, attended the third meeting on Saturday, but briefly. He, however, did not speak at the meeting. “In the past when I signed trade agreements with Beijing, my minority government collapsed. But this time we have a government with a full-fledged majority, so no one can remove me now,” Oli said on Sunday. “I did not commit any mistake by claiming our land, which has been snatched from us for the past 58 years after Nepal enjoyed the rights over these areas for 146 years,” Oli said. Nepal this month completed the process of redrawing the country’s political map through a Constitutional amendment, incorporating three strategically important Indian areas. India has termed as “untenable” the “artificial enlargement” of the territorial claims by Nepal after its Parliament unanimously approved the new political map of the country featuring Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas which India maintains belong to it. The India-Nepal bilateral ties came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on 8 May. Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior leader of the ruling NCP told PTI that Oli’s indication was his opponents within the ruling party, not from outside. “There have been growing differences within the ruling party and the Prime Minister is being cornered within his own party and his own colleagues are criticising the government’’s performance,” he said. Another NCP leader said that Oli’’s absence in the first two days of the meetings showed the growing differences between him and Prachanda. Prachanda has time and again spoken about the lack of coordination between the government and the party and he was pressing for a one-man one position system to be followed by the NCP.