The ongoing power struggle within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is intensifying and the Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi is left balancing China’s interests in Nepal between the warring factions of Prime Minister Oli and former Prime Ministers Prachanda and Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Hou Yanqi has been holding marathon meetings with all the main political actors in the landlocked country. On Thursday, she had a 50 minutes-long meeting with Prachanda at his residence.
When Hou reached Prachanda’s residence in Khumaltar, Agriculture Minister Ghanshyam Bhusal and Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Yogesh Bhattarai. But Hou and Prachanda held their marathon meeting only after the two Ministers had left.
Over the past few days, the Chinese Ambassador has held meetings with all the top political players in Nepal- President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, two senior leaders of the ruling party and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Kathmandu Post has reported that according to sources, the marathon meetings have revolved around the ongoing disputes within the ruling Nepal Communist Party.
Hou Yanqi has been made to run from pillar to post in the background of a highly unpredictable political situation in Nepal.
There are some deep fissures within the ruling Nepal Communist Party. The factions led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Prachanda are asking Oli to reign both as Party chairman and Nepal’s Prime Minister.
Things have escalated pretty quickly and last week Oli even hinted that he could split the ruling party amidst calls for resignation. Oli is presently hanging in a precarious position. 30 out of the 44 Standing Committee members of his party are opposing him.
Oli doesn’t want to lose power and therefore he has done everything possible including shifting his loyalties to China. On July 2, the Nepalese Prime Minister even prorogued the Parliament session. He has thus successfully ensured that he doesn’t face a no-confidence motion in the Nepalese Parliament.
Over the recent past, Oli has ratcheted irredentism against India and has even dragged in the Chinese Ambassador to control Nepal’s internal matters. With such disastrous ideas, the 68-year old wants to quell the ongoing rebellion within his party.
But the power struggle within the Nepal Communist Party continues despite Beijing’s involvement. Meanwhile, Oli has come up with another idea- declaring Health Emergency.
Oli has been discussing the idea of imposing a Health Emergency and bringing in troops to combat the Wuhan virus. He has been discussing this plan with the country’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Oli wants to sidestep the outrage within his party through such a measure, but neither the Nepalese President nor the Nepalese Army are ready to are in favour of such a move.
As for Hou Yanqi, she wants Oli to remain in power and the ruling party to remain intact. She has been making it clear time and again that the party must not break.
All her meetings are based on a single agenda- “Party must not break, doesn’t matter whoever the PM, removing Oli will send signals Indian won.”
Even in May, Hou had come to Oli’s rescue when the Nepal Communist Party was about to fall apart owing to internal cracks.
But despite the Chinese Ambassador’s advice, Nepal’s political leaders cannot stop fighting. The Chinese wolf-warrior is thus being kept on her toes, pleading one Nepalese political leader after the other. And that too when the Wuhan Virus outbreak is on the rise in the Himalayan country.
