Kathmandu, Oct 19: Nepal’s deposed Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Sunday said the current government is trying to arrest him without sufficient ground while claiming that it is not serious in conducting the general election on March 5, 2026.
During his first interaction with editors and senior journalists in Kathmandu over a month after his ouster from power, Oli said his party, CPN-UML, will seek reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives.
The former PM added that the government was trying to arrest him by hook or crook, though there was no sufficient ground for the same.
Oli resigned in September after violent protests by the youth-led Gen Z group against his government over corruption and ban on social media.
The Gen Z youths were asking the government to arrest then Prime Minister Oli and Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, holding them responsible for excessive use of force against the Gen Z youths during the agitation.
He also expressed the view that the arson and vandalism done during the Gen Z protests were through infiltration of external elements, but didn’t specify who they were.
Criticising the government over the withdrawal of some of his security personnel despite the threat against him, Oli said the government has not created an environment to conduct a free and fair election.
Oli said that after he was rescued by the Nepal Army from the Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar following the attack by the agitators from which he narrowly escaped, his mobile phone was seized for a few days.
Oli also claimed that during his tenure, the law and order situation was better and the press was more secure, adding that now the media has become insecure and they have started self-censorship.
He also accused the media of not covering the vandalism and arson done in the name of the Gen Z group that destroyed many important government buildings, including the Prime Minister’s Office at Singhdurbar, the Supreme Court, Parliament Building and the anti-graft body.
Oli said that he didn’t accept the idea of Nepo-kids, floated by the Gen Z youths. “I couldn’t accept the Nepo-babe campaign launched by the Gen Z youths, which created terror among the Nepalese people,” Oli said. (PTI)
