Kathmandu, Dec. 16 -- Nepal's Prime Minister K P Oli, who is facing a growing mutiny within his party, has become even more politically isolated by an ordinance he pushed on constitutional appointments.

In a day of fast-moving events, after a Constitutional Council meeting which the prime minister chairs did not have a quorum to decide on new appointments, Oli got the cabinet to endorse his recommendation and rushed to Shital Niwas for President Bidya Devi Bhandari to quickly sign an ordinance amending the law to allow only three members of the Council to make appointments.

The move has drawn sharp rebuke from across the political spectrum, including from within Oli's own Nepal Communist Party, where he is locked in a power struggle wit...