KATHMANDU, Aug 24: After trading nasty barbs at the party, Nepal Communist Party Chairman KP Oli and secretariat member Madhav Kumar Nepal have agreed to mend fences with each other in the days to come, expressing regret. This follows suggestions from the close aides of both leaders to end the dispute.

In their meetings with their close aides, both leaders have expressed their willingness to resolve the differences that emerged between them after a heated debate on Thursday.“Both the leaders have now expressed a sense of regret over what happened at the party meeting yesterday. It's going to be defused soon,” said Kundan Aryal, an aide to Oli.

Shortly after the trading of barbs, Oli's advisors had urged the leaders close to Nepal to approach Nepal and defuse the dispute between the two leaders instead of making it an issue of argument. Nepal was suggested to mend fences with Oli at the available party forums.

Oli's aides had urged Banshidhar Mishra, an NCP leader who was recently appointed the Nepali ambassador to Bangladesh, to approach Nepal and work accordingly to de-escalate the growing tension between the two leaders.

In his meeting with Mishra, Nepal had assured of not intensifying the dispute with Oli but to mend fences with him by holding discussions soon.

In the aftermath of the dispute, Nepal had an informal meeting with another Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Dahal reportedly advised Nepal to follow party discipline and respect each other instead of engaging in a blame game against any leader.

Differences surfaced between the two leaders after the Oli-led Secretariat demoted Nepal in the party's order of precedence.

Before the NCP finalized the order of precedence for top party leaders, Nepal was ranked third after the two chairpersons -Dahal and Oli. But the recent Secretariat meeting decided to promote another leader Bamdev Gautam as vice-chairperson placing him in the third rank and Jhalanath Khanal in the fourth rank.

Nepal is now placed in the fifth rank after Khanal. Also, Nepal says he has felt sidelined and humiliated in the party after his trusted leaders were not included in the secretariat. Nepal has been accusing Oli of promoting nepotism and favoritism in the party to weaken his influence. The differences between the leaders had reached at its climax in Thursday's Secretariat meeting after Nepal registered a note of dissent disagreeing with the recent decision made by the party's top body. Nepal also demanded that Oli, who heads the government should choose one position: either party chief or prime minister.

 
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