Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah, known for his maverick style, has once again taken aim at Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli. Shah has accused Oli of failing to act on repeated calls of the metropolitan city to take action against Rekha Sharma, a CPN-UML provincial assembly member in Lumbini who is accused of abusing a child domestic worker for eight years.

Back-and-forth between Oli and Shah, a popular rapper, is nothing new. Prior to this, on June 3, Shah had accused Oli of ‘policy corruption’ related to the illegal land swap involving Giri Bandhu Tea Estate in Jhapa.

This followed the intervention by then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth to halt the mayor’s plan to widen pavements in the Capital’s New Road area.

On Sunday, writing on social media, Mayor Shah accused Oli of failing to act against Sharma despite repeated calls by the metropolis office for the past two months.

“The court has also decided to prosecute the accused,” Shah wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “Respected prime minister, good governance entails taking action against your lawmaker accused of domestic violence.”

“Perhaps to you, good governance is limited to announcing a compensation of Rs100,000 and shedding crocodile tears over her death on Facebook,” Mayor Shah said on his Facebook post, which he shared on X.

But why has KMC Mayor Shah repeatedly targeted Oli?

Political experts suggest that as Shah is not part of the traditional power elite, and those traditional elites are not ready to welcome him, such clashes are to be expected.

“Mayor Shah has taken an unconventional approach in dealing with the old political elite, which has increased friction between them,” Jhalak Subedi, a political analyst, told the Post.

Shah had also targeted Oli and his party colleagues earlier when they intervened in the mayor’s plan to widen the pavement in the New Road area. This time, as the UML is obstructing Shah’s efforts to implement the Supreme Court ruling to vacate the Bagmati riverside land, he has again targeted the party and its chief, according to a close aide to the mayor.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling—whose full text was issued on July 15—ordering authorities to clear settlements along the Bagmati River and its tributaries in the Kathmandu Valley, KMC issued a notice on August 8 to clear the settlements. The KMC notice also bans new construction within an additional 20 metres beyond the previously designated riverbank area.

In the full text of the ruling, the Supreme Court also deemed the government’s standard of leaving 20 metres clear on riverbanks to be insufficient and has ordered an additional 20 metres be added.

The Supreme Court ruling was against the Cabinet decision of October 17, 2008, which had set the 20-metre clearance requirement for riverside areas in Kathmandu. According to the decision, construction was allowed only if a 20-metre buffer was left on both sides of the Bagmati, Bishnumati and Manohora rivers, while the buffer for other riverbanks is between 4-20 metres.

A joint bench of Supreme Court Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Binod Sharma had issued the order against the earlier cabinet decision. The top court issued a verdict on it on December 19 last year.

Soon after the court’s full text came out, KMC had said that it would fully implement the court’s decision.

According to the KMC notice, the prohibition on construction will now extend to 40 metres on either side of Bagmati, Bishnumati and Manohara rivers.

The notice issued by the metropolis states, “No construction will be permitted within an additional 20 metres on either side of the river, and ongoing construction will be halted.”

The Kathmandu district committee of the UML protested the municipal notice. On August 26, the committee also met Prime Minister Oli to express its concerns and requested a judicial review of the Supreme Court’s decision to ban construction on an additional 20 metres of land.

“If the KMC notice is implemented, it will not only affect a large section of Kathmandu’s population, but also impact World Heritage sites like the Pashupatinath Temple,” says Rajan Bhattarai, the Bagmati Province in-charge of the UML.

“The municipal decision is not pragmatic and its repercussions are already being felt,” Bhattarai told the Post. “Following the municipal notice, homeowners with bank mortgages are in serious trouble as the banks have started demanding alternative collateral.”

“While we respect the court’s decision, its implementation will lead to severe financial problems for the country,” Bhattarai added.

Subedi, the political analyst, doesn’t agree.

“If the court’s decision is problematic, the government has the option to challenge it,” Subedi said. “This has nothing to do with Mayor Shah.”

The UML district committee is scheduled to meet with Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday to discuss the matter, and also plans to meet Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, according to Bhattarai.