KATHMANDU, Dec 10: Amid uproar in the party rank and file, the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has called its standing committee meeting for December 15.
A secretariat meeting chaired by the party’s Executive Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal called the meeting of the standing committee, the second powerful body in the party, after a gap of a year.
“The meeting will start on December 15 and will continue at least for two days,” said the party’s Spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha.
The party’s top leaders have been facing criticism from the second-rung leaders for not organizing the lower committees’ meetings and not expanding the party organization up to the party cadres’ expectations since the party was formed merging two influential communist parties into one.
Monday’s secretariat meeting has instructed the party’s department chiefs to give a complete shape to their respective departments at the earliest.
NCP calls Standing Committee meet as factional feud deepens
At the meeting held at the party headquarters, Dhumbarahi, another chairman KP Oli, who is taking rest following an appendectomy at the Maharajgunj-based Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center, was absent.
The meeting was expected to review the party’s performance in the by-polls held last month but the review was deferred after most lower bodies didn’t submit the poll review reports from the ground as expected.
Despite having an almost two-thirds majority in the federal parliament, the NCP lost some seats in the provincial and local governments in the by-polls.
Top party leaders have been criticized after the main opposition Nepali Congress snatched away at least two key positions -- the provincial assembly seat from Bhaktapur 1 (a) and the post of mayor of Dharan Metropolitan City — from the NCP in the by-elections held on November 30. An NC candidate was elected a ward chief in Chitwan, another stronghold of the NCP.
Second-rung party leaders say the NCP is losing its influence in its strongholds despite its strong presence in the federal and provincial parliaments and local governments “as the party’s internal organizations have turned dysfunctional in the recent months.”
Only the nine top leaders named as secretariat members have been taking decisions whenever there is any issue to be dealt with in the party.
The party’s committees like the standing committee, politburo and central committees are almost dysfunctional. The members of the standing committee, the second powerful body after the secretariat, had not convened since December 2018 although the party statute has a provision to hold such meetings every three months.
Top leaders have not assembled for the standing committee meeting after senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and Bam Dev Gautam demanded ‘One Leader, One Position’ — a clear work demarcation among leaders holding party position. Of late, the party has not formed its politburo.
There is a trend of the top leaders appointing their confidants as politburo members. Not a single meeting of the party’s central committee has taken place since June 2018.
