Ousted as PM, Nepal's veteran Marxist leader Oli seeks return

Tough-talking Nepali leader Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli spent decades in communist politics and served as prime minister four times before his ouster in 2025 by deadly youth protests.

Less than six months since the September anti-corruption unrest, in which at least 77 people were killed, the 73-year-old is seeking his political comeback.

Oli, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), hopes to regain control of parliament in the 5 March elections.

But he faces a direct challenge in his home constituency from 35-year-old rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who has cast himself as a symbol of youth-driven political change.

Campaigning begins today (16 February).

Oli spent last week meeting communities and appealing for votes, painting the polls as a "competition between those who burn the country and those who build it".

The protests were triggered by the Oli government's ban on social media, but driven by widespread frustration over economic stagnation and entrenched corruption.

As prime minister, Oli became a lightning rod for protester fury. He resigned on 9 September 2025, as mobs torched his house, parliament and government offices.

In his resignation letter, Oli said he hoped stepping down would help "move towards a political solution and the resolution of the problems".

In January, he gave a statement to a commission established by the interim government to investigate the deadly crackdown on the youth-led uprising.

Oli has denied he had told the police to open fire on protesters.

"I did not give any orders to shoot," he said, in an audio statement posted on his social media in January.

Instead, he has blamed "infiltrators" or "anarchic forces" for igniting violence -- without giving further details.

"The children were led to such a point where the law itself orders shooting," he added.

Despite the turmoil, Oli brushed aside doubts about his political future, winning re-election as CPN-UML chief in December by a landslide.

Authoritarian streak

Political journalist Binu Subedi said Oli had an authoritarian streak and considered his word as "final", rarely accepting criticism or suggestions, even from his own party.

Often known by his first initials "KP", Oli for years carefully crafted a cult-like image as his party's leader, with life-size cutouts and banners of "KP Ba (father), we love you" at rallies.

Oli's political career stretches nearly six decades, a period that saw a decade-long civil war and Nepal's 2008 abolition of its monarchy.

Drawn into underground communist politics as a teenager, he was 21 when arrested in 1973 for campaigning to overthrow the king.

"I was sentenced to harsh imprisonment for 14 years, with four years of solitary confinement", he wrote in a book of selected speeches.

He studied and wrote poetry in detention, penning his verses on cigarette boxes when he couldn't access paper.

"My crime was that I fought against the autocratic regime," Oli added. "But this never deterred me; instead, it emboldened me to continue the struggle."

After his release in 1987, he joined the CPN-UML and rose through the ranks, winning a parliamentary seat.

The veteran politician first became prime minister in 2015, before being re-elected in 2018 and reappointed briefly in 2021 in Nepal's often turbulent parliament.

He previously said he recognises that "Marxism and Leninism cannot be a ready-made solution to every problem".

Oli's most recent stint in power, from 2024 until his ouster, rested on a coalition between the CPN-UML and the centre-left Nepali Congress.

But Congress has since replaced his old ally, five-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, 79, electing 49-year-old Gagan Thapa as its new leader in January.

In the Himalayan republic of some 30 million people, overshadowed by giant neighbours India and China, Oli previously trod a fine balance between the rivals.

But he also stoked populist rhetoric against India, which is often portrayed as acting like an overbearing "big brother" to Nepal.