KATHMANDU: The high-voltage drama in the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) ended in a dramatic note following the conspicuous turn of events.
Political pundits observe these twists and turns as an ‘ascendancy’ both internal and external.
Surely, as observers note, several factors played a role to avert what has been deemed as ‘disaster’ in the party.
However, notwithstanding the understanding, the party is still not away from further conflict as senior leaders are not much convinced with the assurances of Prime Minister KP Oli that he would initiate to bring onboard party Vice-chairman Bam Dev Gautam the House of Representatives.
This is considered as PM Oli’s shrewdness as he took every possible move to avert unfortunate circumstances. In fact, he succeeded in protecting his premiership even though the disgruntled faction led by Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal were hell-bent on ousting him from both the post of Prime Minister and party Chairman.
Interestingly, PM Oli, who had fallen in minority in the all-powerful nine-member Secretariat of the party, carried all before one in the tug-of-war to prove his political sharpness.
PM Oli was well-accustomed that Ishwor Pokhrel and Bishnu Poudel were his only two staunch supporters in the Secretariat. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal, and Bam Dev Gautam were damn against Oli and were engaged in meetings to oust him from both the posts alleging him of failing to perform as per the aspirations.
The intra-party feud touched a new height after PM Oli brought two ordinances (later revoked) two weeks back in an effort to secure his position as the PM and to further strengthen his grip in the party.
However, party insiders have to say that several factors played a role to narrow down the intra-party wrangling. One among them was Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi who engaged in talks with NCP top brass, including PM Oli, Chairman Dahal, senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and even President Bidhya Devi Bhandari.
“Or else, the situation would have been more tricky for the party top brass,” a standing committee member of the party said insisting anonymity.
Speculations were that the ‘alliance’ led by Dahal and senior leader Nepal would sweep Prime Minister Oli off his feet in Saturday’s meeting of the Secretariat.
This becomes evident when Dahal conceded with senior leader Nepal that the Chinese Ambassador has suggested PM Oli and him move ahead on the basis of power-sharing.
In fact, party general-secretary Bishnu Poudel, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali, and Chief Minister of State-5 Shankar Pokhrel, too, had played a role to ‘settle’ disputes as per the interest of PM Oli.
Prime Minister Oli used all his cards to bring the situation under his control. For instance, he held meetings with President Bhandari, Chief Justice and Chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to further expand his gambit.
Moreover, he also initiated a signature campaign of lawmakers to prove his majority in the Parliamentary Party.
Ensuring that the situation has come to his favor, PM Oli then agreed to call the widely-anticipated meeting of the Secretariat on last Saturday.
To become more comfortable, PM Oli held ‘crucial’ talks with party Chairman Dahal before Saturday’s Secretariat meeting, which means that Oli left no stone unturned to strengthen his position in the party.
Interestingly, to everyone’s surprise, PM Oli assured of bringing onboard Gautam to the House of Representatives. Earlier, he had proposed making Gautam the Prime Minister and senior leader Nepal as party’s third Chairman once the coronavirus pandemic subsided.
Party Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha, earlier this week, said Prime Minister Oli and Chairman Dahal, during the Secretariat meeting, took to self-criticism over the shortcomings made by the government and the party and pledged to not indulge in any activity that could bring division in the party.
The meeting of the Secretariat had also stressed the need to run the party in a united manner.
PM Oli was not only the sole player. Party general secretary Poudel, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Industry Minister Lekhraj Bhatta, NCP leader Dina Nath Sharma, former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey, and media owner Capt Rameshwar Thapa, too, had played an active role behind the scene to narrow down the differences – in fact, to bring the situation in PM Oli’s favor.
Capt Thapa, who is considered close to PM Oli, was the latter’s partner to play badminton in Balkot. Thapa, who played an active role in patching up differences in PM Oli’s favor, has been a ‘friend’ of Oli during hard times.
Capt Thapa, who has had an experience of rescuing stranded people during the decade-long insurgency in his flying career, had also tried to convince NCP Chairman Dahal to refrain from seeking Oli’s alternative at this time.
As the Chairman of Annapurna Media Group, Capt Thapa succeeded in creating a conducive environment of talks between Oli and Dahal.
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