KATHMANDU: The Standing Committee meeting of the ruling NCP held at Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar on Friday finally settled the dispute pestering the party for quite a while.

The dispute fizzled out after the meeting passed the report of the dispute resolution task force with some amendment.

The dispute resolution task force was formed by the two party chairs KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’. With the passage of the task force report, the remaining tasks of party unification will also intensify.

The standing committee meeting begun two months back had postponed several times over the intra-party feud. It had ultimately forced the party Chairmen duo Oli and Dahal to form the taskforce to patch up the widening rift.

The task force led by party General Secretary Bishnu Poudel came up with the suggestion on clear work division between the chairmen.

However, the senior leader in the party Madhav Kumar Nepal said he was always for the rule and norms in the party, and expressed concern over why the report failed to include the ‘one person-one post’ scheme which he had advocated for long.

The task force comprises standing committee members Bhim Rawal, Surendra Pandey, Shankar Pokharel, Janardan Sharma and Pampha Bhusal.

The taskforce had given different suggestions for resolving the party disputes with the clear jurisdiction of party chair duo. The meeting Friday endorsed the 15-point proposal developed by the chair duo based on the task force report.

According to NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the party senior leaders duo Jhalnath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, spokesperson Shrestha, leaders Asthalaxmi Shakya, Yubaraj Gyawali, Bhim Rawal, Raghu Ji Panta, Lila Mani Pokharel, Bhim Acharya, Dev Gurung, Matrika Yadav, Amrit Kumar Bohora, Ghanashyam Bhusal had expressed their views in the meeting.

The meeting further approved the previous decision of holding the party’s central convention from April 7 next year in Kathmandu.

According to Shrestha, the central committee meeting will be called on October 31 for the preparation of the national convention.

MCC to be approved with amendments

The meeting also decided to endorse the MCC grant to be provided by the US to Nepal only after the amendment of its some provisions. The MCC project is under discussion in the parliament for a long due to debate on some conditions on it.

The central committee meeting of the party last year had formed a three-member task force to study the MCC project and give feedback to the party.

The task force comprised former Prime Minister and party’s senior leader Jhalnatah Khanal (coordinator), and standing committee members Bhim Rawal and Pradeep Gyawali as members.

The MCC agreement mentioned establishing a transmission line of 300 KV that would stretch from Lapsefedi of Kathmandu to Ratamate in Nuwakot, Ratamate to Hetauda, Ratamate to Damauli, Damauli to Butwal and from Butwal to the borderline with India. Three sub-stations would be made in Ratamate, Damauli and Butwal.

Border issues and Control of COVID-19

The meeting today assessed the efforts made by the government to resolve border issues with India in a positive light and suggested the diplomatic dialogues to send back the Indian Army from Nepal’s territory.

The meeting also recommended the government to move ahead to make the government’s initiatives further useful to contain COVID-19 and to treat the infected ones.

What was the dispute?

While the standing committee meeting was ongoing, the government had ended the federal government’s budget session abruptly on July 2, which became the bone of contention.

Likewise, the remark made by Prime Minister and NCP Chair KP Sharma Oli on the occasion of the birth anniversary of NCP’s late leader Madan Kumar Bhandari on June 28 surrounding the issuance of the new political map of Nepal and conspiracy to topple his government had created a stir among the top-ranking leaders of the party.

The standing committee meeting which had commenced on June 24 had set agendas such as review of the government’s effort and performance, resolution of Nepal’s border issues, COVID-19 prevention and control as well as treatment of the infected ones, the pending works related to the unification of the party, MCC Compact among others.

The then Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the two left parties, had merged into one on May 17, 2018.