CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Friday that his party was compelled to withdraw its support to the government led by KP Sharma Oli as the prime minister and his team were involved in “plotting against our party”.

In his first press meet after pulling out of the Oli Cabinet, Dahal accused the government of trying to revive conflict-era cases.

“Realising that PM Oli and his team were plotting to weaken the Maoist movement even as we elevated him to the top post, we had to withdraw support,” Dahal told reporters at his residence in Lazimpat.

He claimed that Oli refused to listen to the Maoist party’s verbal and written concerns repeatedly but joined hands with anti-federalists, forces trying to restore monarchy and those standing against proportional representation.

Referring to an understanding reached with the CPN-UML about handing over the PM’s post to Dahal, the Maoist leader said Oli had failed to honour the deal even while other senior UML leaders accepted it.

“After Oli denied it, we had no moral grounds to remain in the government as a hapless spectator,” Dahal said.

UML ‘conspiring against Maoists’

Reminding the UML of being a party that has more experience with the parliamentary system than the Maoists, Dahal said the PM had been “hatching conspiracies” instead of resigning as per the parliamentary practice.

“Instead, PM Oli has been spreading rumours that his government still enjoys a majority even as the Maoist-NC alliance has 20 more votes” than the majority required to topple the government, excluding the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha that has pledged support to unseat Oli.

Dahal, who is in line to become the next PM, said all three elections—local, provincial and central—could be held in two phases: VDC and municipal elections first and provincial and federal polls next.

The former PM claimed that the UML had been spreading rumours of China backing the Oli-led government for the sake of prolonging his tenure. Dahal claimed that China would rather be happy to see him as the prime minister.

“All the agreements signed by PM Oli during his China visit were possible because of me,” Dahal boasted, saying that he was in constant touch with the Chinese authorities.