At a time when the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML have floated constitution amendment as their key agenda, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday said that the amendment is not possible before 2087 BS.

“The constitution will only be amended in 2087 BS,” said Oli at the conclusion of the party’s central committee meeting.

“It is not possible before that. You must be aware of [our] numbers and strength in the National Assembly,” said Oli. “That is why an amendment is possible only in 2087 BS.”

The main opposition, CPN (Maoist Centre), is currently the largest party in the National Assembly, so it is difficult for the Congress-UML ruling coalition to muster the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution. The amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both the House of Representatives and National Assembly.

During the time of government formation between the Congress and the UML last July, the two parties had given priority to the agenda of constitution amendment.

“Currently, we [Congress-UML coalition] do not have a majority in the National Assembly, but we will have that by 2087 BS,” said a central committee member, quoting Oli.

Although some UML leaders reminded Oli of the Congress-UML deal to amend the constitution expeditiously, Oli categorically said amendment would not be possible before the upper house elections in 2026.

But Oli did acknowledge that some flaws in the constitution need to be amended.

Replying to concerns of party leaders about growing factionalism, Oli rejected the notion and said there are no “old factions, splinter groups, ex-Marxists, Leninists, or Maoists in the party anymore,” according to his private secretariat.

“The UML is united and forward-looking. We are not status quoists, we are revolutionaries and our goal is to achieve socialism.”

The UML chief also criticised Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN (Unified Socialist) chief Madhav Nepal for causing splits in the UML in the past.

But he expressed optimism about the Congress-UML government saying it is working to ensure political stability and economic progress.

On foreign relations, Oli reaffirmed Nepal’s commitment to non-alignment and balanced neighbourhood policy. He also vowed to resolve territorial disputes with India and reclaim the land incorporated in the new map of Nepal issued in 2021.

The three-day meeting also passed a 14-point proposal that includes several suggestions to the government on tackling corruption, misinformation and youth exodus, among other things.

The party has also urged those who had split or left the UML, including leaders and cadres of the CPN (Unified Socialist), to return to the mother party, according to Rajendra Gautam, head of publicity department of the party.

“Those who were once considered close to Oli have now turned against him, and it seems the party chairman is losing his grip on the party,” a central committee member told the Post.

The decision to sack Bhim Rawal, the former vice chairman of the party, and suspend two other leaders, Binda Pandey and Usha Kiran Timilsina, for six months for speaking out against the party’s decisions, was also a major issue raised during the three-day meet.

Many leaders, in the meeting, urged the party leadership to reconsider the decision to suspend Pandey and Timilsina.

Senior leader Amrit Kumar Bohara, who heads the party’s discipline committee, also raised questions over the way Rawal was expelled from the party and two women leaders Pandey and Timilsina were suspended for six months each.

“I am the head of the party’s discipline committee, yet I was kept in the dark about the decision,” Bohara said in the meeting. “Why wasn’t the discipline committee asked to probe Rawal?”

Bohara; Agni Kharel, former attorney general; Krishna Gopal Shrestha; Karna Thapa; Mahesh Basnet; Pemba Lama; Thakur Gaire; and Rachana Khakda, among others, spoke against the party’s decision to accept a tract of land from a controversial businessman like Min Bahadur Gurung for building the party’s office. They urged the party to return the land.

Bohara, who is a contemporary of Oli, said the decision to accept land in donation from a controversial businessman, removing Rawal, suspending two other leaders, and multiple controversial decisions of the party leadership was doing the UML’s image grave harm and would hurt its future electoral prospects.

Most leaders speaking in the meeting were of the view that the decision to accept land from the controversial businessman had sent a negative message to the public and the land should be returned to Gurung. The common belief seemed to be that this single decision had destroyed the party’s popularity as well as its credibility.

“If the party keeps making these kinds of mistakes, no one can rescue the UML in the next elections,” said Karna Thapa, who used to be close to Oli. “We will also suffer irreparable losses in upcoming elections.”

Thapa has left the Oli camp and now bats for former President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, who is supposedly looking to rejoin the UML.

“Oli presented a long list of how Rawal had deceived the party after the 10th general convention in 2021,” said Rajendra Gautam, head of the UML publicity department. “Also in the case of Pandey and Timilsian, both have for long been commenting and criticising the party’s decisions. The party has suspended them and we will now watch how they behave,” said Gautam at the meeting’s end.