KATHMANDU – Minister for Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ is formally siding with Prime Minister and Nepal Communist Party’s Chairman KP Sharma Oli as the ruling party heads towards a split.
Home Minister Badal, also a secretariat member in the NCP, is backing Oli-led camp after Prime Minister Oli offered him to become ‘second man’ in the ruling party. Earlier, Home Minister Badal had met Prime Minister Oli and NCP Executive Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ separately.
During the meeting with Prime Minister Oli, Home Minister Badal told him that he would now openly support the Oli-led camp, according to a party source. Despite a polarization in the ruling party, Home Minister Badal had not attended any meeting or gathering of either camp.
Though he became Home Minister under the ‘quota’ of Prachana, he has been getting close to Prime Minister Oli. The relation between Prachanda and Home Minister Badal worsened after the former tried to remove him from the post, according to the source.
According to the source, Oli-led camp is preparing to make him a leader of the second rung in the ruling party. Most of the leaders considered to be close to Badal have already backed Prachanda and Madhav Kumar Nepal-led camp in the NCP. Home Minister Badal is almost certain to side with Prime Minister Oli from today, according to the source.
Some of the former leaders from the erstwhile NCP (Maoist-Center) including Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Lekhraj Bhatta and Mani Thapa have already joined the Oli-led camp in the party. Former Maoist leader Badal is also going to regularly attend the meetings of the Oli-led camp in the party.
Though Prachanda had made several attempts to woo him, Home Minister Badal had remained silent on his support.
