KP Sharma Oli

Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli (खड्ग प्रसाद शर्मा ओली, ; born 22 February 1952) is a Nepali Communist politician, former Prime Minister of Nepal.

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 was 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.

Oli was imprisoned for 14 consecutive years from 1973 to 1987 for being against autocratic Panchayat system.

After his release from prison in 1987, he became a central committee member of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and in-charge of the Lumbini zone until 1990.

After the 1990 People's Movement, he was elected to the House of Representatives from Jhapa–6 in 1991.

He was appointed chief of the foreign relations department of the CPN (UML) in 1992.

He was re-elected to the parliament in 1994 and served as the Minister for Home Affairs in Manmohan Adhikari's minority government.

He was re-elected from in 1999 from Jhapa constituencies 2 and 6 upon which he gave up his Jhapa–6 seat.

Oli was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for 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 and the investigation committee later declared it to be an unsolved murder.

He 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 eighth general convention 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 Khanal by a vote of 98 to 75 in the parliamentary party.

Oli was subsequently elected as the chairman of CPN (UML) in July 2014 during the party's ninth general convention.

He has served two terms as prime minister, from 11 October 2015 to 3 August 2016, and from 15 February 2018 to 13 July 2021 as the first prime minister to be appointed following the first general election under the new constitution.

KP Oli is noted for taking a more hardline stance with regard to the Indian government during and in the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal blockade.

He strengthened relations with China as an alternative to Nepal's traditional close trade ties with India and updated the map of Nepal by constitutional amendment including territories disputed with India, for which he has received some domestic praise and a reputation as a nationalist.

Oli was elected Prime Minister in a parliamentary vote on 11 October 2015, receiving 338 votes out of 597 members in the Legislature Parliament.

Oli's candidacy was supported by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, and Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum 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 CPN (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, the CPN (UML)–led government and The Prime Minister Oli seemingly shrank into a minority, pressuring him to resign.

However, CPN (UML) decided to discuss the filed no-confidence motion in the house which led to a three-day parliamentary meeting of the concerned parties.

During the process, two other major parties, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, also withdrew their support from the coalition.

On the third day, 24 July 2016, after addressing the opposition parties in parliament, Oli announced his resignation.

The Indian government was accused of conspiring in bringing down Oli as he stood firmly against the economic blockade imposed by India; an allegation categorically rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs of India.

While in office, Oli was marred by controversy for frequent use of tongue-in-cheek remarks, hostility towards critics and the media, silence on corruption by colleagues and business aides, failing to deliver on economic growth, and for deviating from promised budgetary expenditures despite a historic majority in the 2017 legislative election

Oli was appointed Prime Minister for a 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.

The left alliance of the CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre) merged to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on 17 May 2018, turning Oli's coalition government to a majority, and giving him a two-thirds majority in the House.

In May 2020, the Oli government unveiled new maps of the country including the disputed territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura in response to the inauguration of a road across the Lipulekh pass by the Indian government, which led to a "cartographic war" between the two countries.

The government swiftly brought a constitutional amendment bill to amend the official map and emblem of the country in the parliament, which was passed unanimously in both houses before being authenticated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

In December 2020, the Oli government recommended the dissolution of the House of Representatives and called for fresh elections on 30 April and 10 May 2021; a step that was readily endorsed by the president.

Oli took this step after a series of infighting in the ruling NCP, which culminated with a faction of the party, led by former prime ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, planning to register a motion of no-confidence against Oli in the House.

Oli's reluctance in withdrawing a controversial Constitutional Council Act further led to tensions in the ruling party.

This decision from Oli was overturned by the Supreme Court on 23 February 2021, when a constitutional bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana deemed the dissolution of the House to be unconstitutional, and called for the House to be reinstated and a meeting of the Parliament to be held within 13 days.