Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has alleged that India is conspiring with his political rivals to overthrow him, the Press Trust of India reported.
“Efforts are being made to remove me from power, but that will not succeed,” Oli said during an official gathering on Sunday.
“I have smelt undercurrent movements. There have been various kinds of activities in the embassies and hotels. If you listen to the news media from Delhi, you will get the gesture,” a report in Scroll.in quoted Oli as saying.
The Nepali PM’s remarks come over a week after the country approved a bill to redraw its map demarcating the Lipulekh mountain pass, Kalapani, and Limpiyadhura — the area at the center of the dispute between India and Nepal — under its territory.
“You all must know Nepal’s nationalism is not that weak that outside forces will be able to topple it,” The Indian Express quoted the Nepali PM as saying.
“We have changed our map and if the prime minister of the country is deposed, then that will be unthinkable to Nepal,” The Hindu quoted PM Oli as saying.
Differences have emerged between Nepal’s PM Oli and the country’s Communist Party’s Executive Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” over the party’s leadership, a report published in Scroll.instated. It added that tensions between the two became evident during a meeting of the party’s Standing Committee. Oli was criticized by his party for skipping two meetings. He briefly attended the third one on Saturday.
Moreover, border tensions between Nepal and India have also grown over the past few months. India has objected to Nepal’s move to include Lipulekh mountain pass, Kalapani, and Limpiyadhura in its territory. Nepal maintains that India has claimed the region by building the Darchula-Lipulekh link road despite repeated objections. India, on the other hand, says the road is within its territory.