KATHMANDU:  Newly appointed chief whip of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Parliamentary Party Bishal Bhattarai claimed that Prime Minister and NCP Chair KP Sharma Oli still has more than 100 members in the restored House of Parliament in his side.

Maintaining that now PM Oli is not in minority, and he could garner majority support when needed, he clarified that the house business would resume following its restoration by the court.

The HoR meeting is scheduled for 7 March. He warned of action as per party statute against the filing of a no-confidence motion against the PM in the parliament and against parliamentarians against the party’s whip.

Bhattarai offered conditions to keep the party unity intact. For this to happen, conditions like withdrawal of an ‘allegation letter’ against PM Oli presented by chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and an agreement to let the PM complete his five-yearterm in the government as its head should take place, he demanded.

It may be noted that a faction of the NCP (later formed to be a Dahal-Nepal group) broke away with the party over PM Oli’s HoR dissolution. Bhattarai recently replaced Dev Prasad Gurung from the Dahal-Nepal faction as chief whip of NCP Parliamentary Party.