Nepal’s new premier names protest group leaders as deputies

Nepal’s newly-appointed prime minister Khadga Prasad Oli surrounded by journalists at the Constituent Assembly in Kathmandu on Sunday.

Oli, 63, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Baran Yadav at his official residence in Kathmandu.

Oli, who is being backed by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and several other parties, is expected to win Sunday’s vote to become the Himalayan nation’s next leader amid widespread agitation in the southern plains. He was elected a member of parliament thrice – in 1991, 1994 and 1999 – from various constituencies in Jhapa district.

But the Maoists, who abolished the monarchy, struggled to hammer out an agreement on the constitution and Oli bounced back in 2013, when fresh elections saw his party come a close second to the Nepali Congress. Mr Oli and Mr Koirala are leaders of the top two political parties and were coalition partners in the last government. The Madhesh, which occupies 17 per cent of the Terai area of the country, constitute to 51 per cent of the total population of Nepal. Madhesis seeks re-insertion so that they continue to have electoral constituencies in proportion to their population.

But charter, the first to be drawn up by elected representatives, triggered a blockade along the border by protesters, cutting off fuel supplies from India and sparking a nationwide shortage.

But India argues that insecurity caused by protests has meant that trucks carrying fuel and other essential goods can not enter Nepal.

“The protests are likely to radicalise even further if [Oli] doesn’t change his views”, Supreme Court lawyer Dipendra Jha said, Al Jazeera reported.

When he was 21, Oli was jailed for 14 years for leading a communist underground movement to overthrow King Mahendra’s absolute rule. India has closed its border to trade with Nepal, citing security concerns, though critics have alleged that New Delhi was pressuring Nepal to amend the constitution in favor of the Madhesi, which share strong cultural ties with India. The protesters want the states to be larger and exercise more autonomy over local issues.