Kathmandu, Oct. 13 -- Leaders within the CPN-UML who once stood firmly behind Chair KP Sharma Oli have now begun persistently urging him to step down. During the party's Secretariat meetings held on Friday and Sunday, a majority of office bearers called on Oli to take responsibility for the political situation that emerged after the Gen Z movement and to relinquish his position on moral grounds. Urging him to remain as a guardian figure, they pressed him to hand over the leadership to a new generation.

This marks the first time in nearly a decade that Oli's leadership has faced serious questioning from within his own faction. The pressure intensified after senior leaders Bishnu Paudel and Prithvi Subba Gurung also suggested that Oli pave...