Khadga Prasad Oli

Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli (Nepali: खड्गप्रसाद ओली, [kʰʌɖɡəˈprəˌsɑːð ɔːliː] ; born 22 February 1952), more commonly known as KP Sharma Oli, is a Nepalese politician and the current Prime Minister of Nepal. Oli previously served as prime minister from 11 October 2015 to 3 August 2016 and was the first elected prime minister under the newly adopted Constitution of Nepal.

Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli was born on 22 February 1952 in a Brahmin family at Terathum. He is the eldest child of Mohan Prasad and Madhumaya Oli.Oli was born to a humble family of farmers. Oli was raised by his grandmother, Rammaya after his mother died of smallpox when Oli was four. He did his primary school education in Tehrathum and later he migrated to the southeastern district of Jhapa. Start living in Ram nath Dahal's house. He resided mostly in Jhapa during his early political life. Oli started his studies at Himalaya Higher Secondary School in Damak municipality of Jhapa district at the age of 12 after he migrated to Jhapa District in1963 AD. He completed his studies till 10 class. In fact, he had also appeared the exam of School leaving Certificate but didn't proceed with his education further. He also served as a Primary School teacher for Science, Maths in a local school of Jhapa District. Oli met his wife, Radhika Shakya, a fellow communist, after coming out of prison. They first met in the course of party activities and married later.

Marxist insurgency years 1966–1991

Oli began his political career in 1966 in opposition to the partyless Panchayat System in place at the time. He joined the Communist Party of Nepal in February 1970.He became involved in subversive politics and was arrested for the first time in 1970. A year later he became a district committee member of the party and soon the chief of the Jhapa Movement Organizing Committee in 1972 which caused the death of several innocent people. Oli was imprisoned for 14 consecutive years from 1973 to 1987. After his release from prison in 1987, he became a central committee member of UMLin-charge of theLumbini Zone until 1990.

Multi-party democracy 1991–2006

After the 1990 People's Movement, he was elected as a member of parliament from Jhapa constituency no. 6 in 1991. He held the post of chief of the foreign department of the CPN (UML) in 1992.

He was re-elected to parliament in 1994 and served as Minister of Home Affairs in Manmohan Adhikari's minority government. He was re-elected to the House of Representatives from Jhapa constituencies 2 and 6 in 1999 and gave up his Jhapa-6 seat.

Involvement in Mahakali Treaty

K.P. Oli has been accused of playing a significant role in the Mahakali Treaty signed in 1998 which has allowed Indian SSB forces to encroach Nepalese lands. For his involvement in this treaty, Oli has been named as the traitor by segments of Nepal.

Transition period

Oli was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs as part of the interim government of Girija Prasad Koirala in 2006. He was also assigned to look into the death of fellow politician Madan Bhandari.

Oli was defeated in the 2008 Constituent Assembly election from Jhapa-7. He also lost the election for the position of Chairman to Jhala Nath Khanal during the eight general congress of CPN-UML in 2009.

He was elected from Jhapa-7 in the 2013 Constituent Assembly election and became leader of the CPN-UML Parliamentary Party on 4 February 2014, defeating party Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal by a vote of 98 to 75.Oli was subsequently elected as the Chairman of CPN-UML in July 2014 during the ninth general congress.

First prime ministership

He was elected as Prime Minister in a parliamentary vote on 11 October 2015, receiving 338 votes out of 597. Oli's PM candidacy is supported by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, and Madhesi Rights Forum-Democratic along with 13 other small parties. He was sworn in on 12 October.

His first stint was dominated by the economic blockade imposed by India upon the promulgation of the Constitution of Nepal. He took a defiant stance against India's position to amend the constitution and signed trade and transit treaties with China to counter Indian dependence.

Following the withdrawal of support from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre) on 13 July 2016 from the existing coalition government and subsequent registration of a no-confidence motion by the party on 14 July 2016, CPN-UML and acting Prime Minister KP Oli seemingly shrank to a minority which pressured him to resign. But CPN-UML's decision to discuss filed no-confidence motion led to a three-day parliament meeting of the concerned parties. During the process, two other major parties, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Madhesi Rights Forum-Democratic, also removed their support from the coalition. On the third day, 24 July 2016, after addressing the opposition parties in parliament, Oli announced his resignation.

Second prime ministership

Oli was appointed as Prime Minister of Nepal for second time on 15 February 2018 after CPN-UML became the largest party in the House of Representatives following the 2017 legislative elections with support from Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the same party whose withdrawal of support had led to resignation in his first term. He passed a motion of confidence with on 11 March 2018 with 208 out of 268 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives. He has faced criticism for inaction even with a two thirds majority in both houses of Parliament. He has also been criticized for the early release of convicted murderer Balkrishna Dhungel and protection of the murderers of Nirmala Panta leading to nationwide protests.

His government was forced to backtrack on several initiatives in quick succession in 2019. It started with the withdrawing of the Guthi Bill from the upper house. This was followed by the reversal on the cabinet decision to host IIFA awards after a parliamentary committee instructed the government to cancel its support to the event. Oli faced criticism from lawmakers of his own party over the decision to cancel checking on agricultural goods imported from India for pesticides.

One of his closest ally and government spokesperson Gokul Prasad Baskota resigned on February 20, 2020, after an audio clip surfaced of him discussing kickbacks with an agent for the procurement of secure printing press.

He was involved in the kidnapping of House of Representatives member Surendra Yadav in order to break up Samajbadi Party, Nepal.

He was elected to the Pratinidhi Sabha from Jhapa in 1991, 1994 and 1999 on a CPN-UML ticket. He contested and won from two constituencies in the 1999 election and gave up his Jhapa-6 seat. He lost the 2008 Constituent assembly election. Only the top two candidates are shown below.

1991 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Jhapa-6

1994 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Jhapa-6

1999 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Jhapa-2

1999 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Jhapa-6

2008 Constituent Assembly Election Jhapa-7

2013 Constituent Assembly Election Jhapa-7

2015 Parliamentary Prime Minister Election

2017 House of Representatives Election Jhapa-5