Senior communist leader Bim Bahadur Rawal, who was ousted from the CPN-UML last week, attacked the party’s chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday. He severely criticised the UML and Oli on 74 points, mostly questioning the activities of the party chief in particular and the party overall.

Organising a press conference in the Capital, Rawal, who is also a former vice-chairman of the UML and deputy prime minister, came down heavily on other senior UML leaders including General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel, and Vice-chairman Bishnu Poudel, too.

Despite rumours, Rawal did not announce a new party but stated that he would institute one soon after taking suggestions and feedback from the general public.

There is the need for an alternative politics with nationalist plank, Rawal said. “And we will move in that direction,” he said, without presenting a roadmap for forming the new party.

Rawal is in touch with some small-time leaders like Nepali Congress (BP) and some former security officials. Rawal served as home and defence minister in the past.

After the UML stripped him of party membership, Rawal was in touch with several dissident leaders, mostly from far-western Nepal where he belongs. The former UML leader had long been without responsibility in the party due to his differences with Oli.

Rawal spoke for over two hours at the press conference, highlighting his five-decade long role in the communist movement. He stressed how Oli, in his bid to settle a personal score, had marred his political career.

Most of his statements were against Oli, the coalition with the Nepali Congress that he leads and the UML party. Rawal’s expulsion from a UML secretariat meeting followed a series of his statements against the party policy.

A UML secretariat meeting on December 25 decided to strip Rawal of his party membership after assessing that his statements and activities since the party’s 2021 general convention were against the UML’s official line.

Rawal had opposed the UML’s decision to accept land donated by Min Bahadur Gurung, the owner of Bhatbhateni supermarket. The land donation issue landed in the Supreme Court, which later quashed the writ petition after a hearing, paving the way for the UML to proceed with building its new headquarters in Kirtipur, Kathmandu.

“Oli, while misusing his powers, is going to be an autocrat,” Rawal alleged. “I was forced out of the party after I opposed several wrongdoings of Oli. For the sake of the country and the Nepali people, I have chosen a new path.”

In his solo address to media persons, Rawal accused the Oli of ever promoting leaders who wanted to split the party.

“But Oli never supported leaders like me who always wanted to build the party. Instead, he removed me. The decision to seek an explanation from me on the issue of Bhatbhateni supermarket [land donation] was an extreme example of vendetta,” he said.

Rawal alleged that the fake Bhutanese refugee scandal happened when Oli was the prime minister and someone from the UML was the home minister. “Was the son of then-home minister and his adviser indicted in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam?”

Rawal provided some details on how the fake Bhutanese refugee scam happened during Oli’s last tenure as prime minister. He accused Oli of protecting people close to him from corruption charges.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority did not file a case against UML Vice-chairman Bishnu Poudel and Kumar Regmi, a Supreme Court justice, in the Lalita Niwas land scam allegedly due to Oli’s favour for the duo.

After their name was dragged in the land scam, both Poudel and Regmi had returned the land they purchased and got exempted from the charge. On behalf of Poudel, his son, Nabin Poudel, had procured the controversial land which was later returned to the government.

Rawal presented several other instances of Oli’s purported wrongdoings. Rawal, who challenged Oli in the UML chair race during the party’s tenth general convention held in November, 2021, accused Oli for defeating him by unfair means.

“I lost the election after Oli hatched a conspiracy against me,” Rawal said. “Oli’s people threatened my supporters, warned them not to vote for me.” He raised questions over the trustworthiness of the electronic voting machine used to make Oli victorious at the Sauraha convention.

“Oli has a nexus with corrupt, brokers and immoral people so no one should expect good governance and development from Oli. He is the main character and source of corruption, nepotism and bad governance in the country,” said Rawal. In a 31-page document distributed on the occasion, he called for a campaign to “protect the nation and the people”.