Amid widening intra-party rift within ruling NCP, Executive Chairman Dahal calls party’s ‘informal’ Secretariat meeting

Published On: November 6, 2020 12:57 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

NCP Executive Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal. File photo: Republica

KATHMANDU, Nov 6: Executive chairperson of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has called an ‘informal’ meeting of the party’s Secretariat on Friday afternoon.

The meeting will begin at 3 pm at the party’s headquarters in Dhumbarahi, according to NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha.

The other chairperson of the party, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is unlikely to attend the Secretariat meeting, according to sources close to him. The party’s Secretariat meeting often used to take place at the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar. But this time Dahal has called the Secretariat meeting at the party’s headquarters in Dhumbarahi, signalling the growing intra-party conflict within the ruling NCP.

Earlier on Thursday, Oli rejected Dahal’s proposal to hold the party’s Secretariat meeting.

The meeting between the two chairpersons of NCP on Thursday failed to make any headway as the relations between the two top leaders has worsened further in recent days, NCP sources said.

The meeting between the two leaders came at a time when the NCP’s intra-party rift has further widened over a host of issues including the controversy that surfaced in the party following the whirlwind visit of Samant Goel, the chief of Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), that took place more than two weeks ago. The two leaders were also at odds over the appointment of ambassadors and induction of new ministers in the Cabinet.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Oli alleged that leaders from within the party were trying to oust him from power and that he would not step down in any circumstances.

Earlier this week, NCP’s General Secretary said that his party is currently facing “a serious existential crisis”. Poudel, who is one of the close confidants of NCP Chairman and Prime Minister Oli and the finance minister in his Cabinet, wrote on Twitter that the “unified existence of the NCP has witnessed a serious crisis”.

Poudel’s remarks came a day after chairperson Oli told Dahal that the party should split. However, the Dahal faction of the party is trying to convince Oli that the party should not split and serious differences should be resolved through consensus.