Nepal's ruling party expels 11 lawmakers for supporting Opposition alliance

Nepal's ruling Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) on Monday expelled 11of its lawmakers including former Prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal for going against the party and supporting the alliance formed by the Opposition.A standing committee meeting of the ruling party held here decided to take action against former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal along with nine others for supporting the Opposition to oust the government.

According to an official release, Ram Kumari Jhankri, Mukunda Neupane, Kalila Khatun, Sarala Yadav, Pushpa Kumari Karna, Nira Devi Jaisi, Pushpa Karna Kayastha and Kalyanai Khadka have been expelled from the party.

Earlier on Saturday, the UML had sought clarification from 11 lawmakers for extending their support to oust party from the government. The decision to expel them even from the party's general membership comes hours after the deadline given them to furnish clarification expired on Monday morning.

With the expulsion of leaders, the party is on the brink of formal split. A new party called CPN (Unified) has already been registered with the Election Commission (EC) by a student leader close to Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Meanwhile, the Standing Committee meeting on Monday also decided to seek clarification from 12 other lawmakers of the party for their involvement in supporting the Opposition alliance to oust the UML-led government.

These lawmakers providing their signatures to make Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba a new Prime Minister are also likely to be expelled from the party's general membership.

( With inputs from ANI )