KATHMANDU, July 5: Amid growing intra-party rift within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), top leaders of the rival factions held a meeting with President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Sunday morning.

NCP Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal reached the President’s official residence at the Sheetal Niwas to apprise President Bhandari of the intra-party political development. While refuting the claim made by Prime Minister Oli that conspiracies were being hatched by the rival faction leaders also to oust the president from power, the leaders said that they did not have such plans and that it was just a rumor. 

The leaders also urged President Bhandari not to approve any ‘wrong move’ if taken by PM Oli. They also made a reference to the plan of Prime Minister Oli to introduce an ordinance that makes it easy to split the NCP.

The meeting of Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, senior leaders Jhala Nath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal comes a day after Prime Minister Oli held a meeting with President Bhandari to apprise her of the latest political situation in the country.

Speaking during a meeting with his cabinet colleagues shortly after his meeting with President Bhandari, Prime Minister Oli briefed them that a conspiracy was being hatched against him and the president.

Chairman Dahal along with senior leaders Khanal and Nepal reached the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Baluwatar to hold what they describe as the ‘decisive’ meeting with Prime Minister Oli. 

It has been learnt that Oli and Dahal are sitting for a decisive talk today to end the deadlock within the party before going for Monday’s Standing Committee meeting. The Standing Committee meeting, scheduled for Saturday, was postponed for Monday so that the leaders have enough time to hold necessary consultations in a bid to resolve the heightened rift. 

Party insiders say the failure to reach consensus between Prime Minister Oli and the rival factions could eventually lead to a split in the ruling NCP as the Standing Committee meeting scheduled for Monday could take a decision against Oli. Rival faction leaders have demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Oli from the posts of prime minister and the party’s chairman.

Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Oli briefed his ministers that preparations are being made to unseat the president through impeachment adding that the party unity is in crisis as he is also being relieved from the Prime Ministerial post through a conspiracy.

The intra-party disputes within the NCP reached at its peak after Prime Minister Oli on last Sunday made an allegation that forces within Nepal and India were trying to oust him from power in an apparent bid to take revenge against his ‘bold decision’ to issue the country’s new political map that includes Kalapani, Lipu Lekh and Limpiyadhura forcefully held by India for decades. 

 
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