Oli, Dahal agree to meet again for agreement

Published On: July 5, 2020 04:00 PM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


KATHMANDU, July 5: Chairpersons of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal have agreed to sit again for talks to minimize their differences before the crucial Standing Committee meeting on Monday.

The two top leaders of the ruling NCP reached this agreement during a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Baluwatar on Sunday afternoon to resolve the growing intra-party rift that surfaced lately after the rival factions demanded immediate resignation of Oli from the posts of both the prime minister and the party’s chairman.

Party General Secretary, Bishnu Poudel, who was one of those attending the meeting held between Oli and Dahal, said the discussions ended on a positive note. “They will again sit for a meeting before the Standing Committee meeting scheduled for Monday,” said Poudel.

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun, who accompanied Chairman Dahal during the meeting, said that the meeting primarily focused on ways to reduce the widening gap between the two top leaders in the party. “The discussions primarily focused on seeking a new meeting-point as per the consensus reached in the past,” said Pun. He said that the two chairmen will again hold discussion to end the deadlock within the NCP.

Chairman duo sat for the talks for an hour, each accompanied by two of their aides. While the party’s General Secretary Bishnu Poudel and Chief Minister of Province 5 Shankar Pokharel accompanied Prime Minister Oli, Barshaman Pun and Janardan Sharma accompanied Chairman Dahal in the meeting described as ‘decisive one’. 

The meeting between Prime Minister Oli and Chairman Dahal came shortly after top leaders of the rival factions within the party held a meeting with President Bidya Devi Bhandari earlier on Sunday. Chairman Dahal and senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal reached the President’s official residence at 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. They also urged President Bhandari not to endorse the ‘wrong moves’ taken by the government amid speculation that Prime Minister Oli was introducing an ordinance to split the party. 

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

Ahead of Monday’s Standing Committee meeting, the leaders are making a serious exerce to resolve the intra-party disputes and save the party from a possible split. A Standing Committee meeting scheduled earlier for Saturday was postponed for Monday apparently to give time for the party’s top leaders to make necessary homeworks to settle their differences by holding necessary consultations.

Although the chairman duo held a two-hour meeting on Friday, there was no consensus between the two sides. Prime Minister Oli, who is also Chairman of the party, has maintained that he is ready to hold talks on all issues except his resignation from the posts of prime minister and the party’s chairman. As many as 30 members of the party’s Standing Committee had earlier demanded Prime Minister Oli to step down from both the posts. 


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