KATHMANDU: In an effort to narrow down the intra-party differences within the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and Prime Minister KP Oli sat for talks at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar on Friday.

A source said that the Chairman duo discussed for three hours but failed to reach any concrete conclusion. They will sit again for talks on Saturday before the meeting of the Standing Committee, the source added.

General Secretary Bishnu Poudel and Standing Committee Member Janardan Sharma were also present at the Oli-Prachanda talks.

The initiation has been taken by the second generation leaders of the NCP, particularly Agriculture Minister Ghanashyam Bhusal, to bring the two chairmen together for talks.

The Standing Committee members have urged both sides to move forward on the basis of consensus.

Minister Bhusal had this morning urged both leaders – PM Oli and Dahal – to thrash out differences on the basis of understanding consensus at this crucial juncture.

Meanwhile, party leaders have also advised top leaders of the party to resolve the ongoing intra-part dispute through dialogue at the earliest.

Taking to social networking sites, NCP leaders have piled pressure on party heavyweights including chairmen Pushpa Kamal Dahal and KP Sharma Oli to seek a solution to the existing problem through dialogues after intra-party crisis deepened further.

NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha has stressed party unity. Posting a twitter message, Shrestha said, “Comrades!  We should play a constructive role from our side at this time of crisis for revolutionary transformation of the country.”

The feud within the ruling NCP took a serious turn on Thursday giving a clear hint that the party is heading closer to a split with both the factions led by Prime Minister Oli and Chairman Dahal showing no signs of flexibility.

Amid rifting dispute on key issues such as the party government-relationship, ratification of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), evaluation of the government performance, COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken by the government, Oli and Dahal are granted one more day to resolve the differences.

The standing committee meetining on Thursday had granted a one-day time to the party leadership to work out the basis for consesus.

In the meantime, amid speculations about the party split, NCP central members are meeting at the party head office at Dhumbarahi today.