KATHMANDU: Chairman of Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Nepal, Upendra Yadav, has strongly criticized Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, expressing intense outrage over recent political developments.

Following his party’s withdrawal of support from the KP Sharma Oli-led government during a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, Yadav took to social media on Thursday to vent his anger.

Yadav accused Prime Minister Oli of protecting Minister for Land Management, Poverty Alleviation and Cooperatives, Balram Adhikari, amid rising calls for Adhikari’s resignation.

He wrote, “Rest assured, Minister Balram Adhikari won’t have to resign. As long as ‘Ba’ (a reference to PM Oli) rules from Baluwatar and Chyasal, his caste-clan partners can get away with anything.”

Yadav also spoke about Rajkumar Gupta, a Madhesi-origin Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration who was recently forced to resign just on Tuesday.

“Balram Adhikari is also implicated in the same Gupta case and audio scandal, but since he belongs to the same caste group, there is silence and protection,” Yadav stated.

He claimed that if the minister embroiled in controversy had been from the Madhesi, Tharu, Dalit, or Indigenous communities, ‘Ba’ would have immediately demanded a resignation.

Yadav further alleged that under Oli’s leadership, bias, class-based protection, and ethnic discrimination have deepened.

Despite the audio scandal and other evidence being made public through the media, the lack of any discussion about Minister Adhikari’s resignation proves PM Oli’s caste-based protectionism, Yadav claimed.