Nepal is in the middle of some internal political turmoil. While the country has recently irked India with its redrawing of the political map, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has problems within his own party to contend with simultaneously.
On Thursday, July 2, Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari approved the Cabinet's proposal to prorogue the ongoing parliamentary session and sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat acknowledging the same.
What is prorogation?
As per the Cambridge Dictionary, to prorogation means "to stop the activities of a parliament for a period of time without dissolving it". It has been used on many occasions by different countries and governments, including Britain in the run-up to Brexit.
This does not cancel or negate the session of the Parliament, merely putting it in a temporarily suspended state. This mean that there will be no floor test in the coming days -- something that will give Prime Minister Oli time to improve his precarious position. There is also speculation that he might split the party -- something that will be greatly aided by the respite provided by prorogation.
What is happening in Nepal?
The move comes even as Prime Minister Oli remains locked in an ever-widening rift with other members of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
In recent times, many of the members of Oli's NCP have demanded his resignation. The faction is led by former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda who is also the ruling party's executive chairman.
The call for resignation has intensified following the Prime Minister's recent outburst where he rather obliquely blamed India for "efforts" to unseat him, while claiming that these efforts "will not succeed." He had added that while nobody had directly asked him to quit, he had "smelt undercurrent movements".
"There have been various kinds of activities in the embassies and hotels," he had claimed, adding that if one listened to the news from New Delhi, "you will get the gesture".
There have been several updates since then, with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday seemed to have extended a supportive hand to his Nepali counterpart.
