Kathmandu, Dec. 21 -- Prime Minister K P Oli has lashed out at rivals within the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) for creating obstacles every step of the way in the past three years, saying this is what forced him to take the "extreme action" of dissolving the Lower House on Sunday.

He named party co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and former UML colleague Madhav Kumar Nepal and others as being the ones who did not want him to succeed in unifying the NCP into "a great and strong party".

"I took the decision with a heavy heart to go back to the people for a new mandate because they just did not allow me to get anything done," Oli told a meeting of his supporters and MPs in Baluwatar on Monday morning. "It was not my personal preference to dissolve ...