KATHMANDU: The venue of the Standing Committee (SC) meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has been shifted to Baluwatar ‘considering the health of Prime Minister and Chairman KP Oli’.
According to NCP General Secretary Bishnu Poudel, the meeting will be held at Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar at 1 pm.
Earlier, the meeting was slated to be held at the party’s central office in Dhumbarahi.
Leaders close to Oli have said that the Prime Minister will attend today’s meeting after reaching an agreement on the agenda. Oli had not attended the meeting held on December 6.
During an earlier meeting, Prime Minister Oli had sent a letter to the meeting arguing that an indictment had been circulated in the party against him and it can’t be discussed.
The meeting slated for today will discuss the disputes within the party and the solution to the crisis, but informal homework has not been enough to find a way out.
Although there was an informal dialogue between the Prime Minister and Chairman Oli and another Chairman Prachanda from last Sunday to Saturday, no other meeting has been held at the top level to resolve the dispute.
Instead, group discussions and gatherings have taken place in the meantime.
A Standing Committee member said that even though the meeting was postponed for a week for informal discussions, no progress has been made in the meantime.
‘The meeting was postponed for a week and informal discussions were called. However, there did not seem to be such a discussion. There was no concrete initiative for discussion. So it doesn’t look like anything has been achieved,” he said.
Despite the lack of dialogue between the leaders, both groups have intensified internal discussions in their respective groups. During the period, some group meetings have also taken place.
The Oli group has been holding meetings and discussions among the leaders of the standing committee in Baluwatar. The Prachanda-Nepal group also held a series of meetings and training in the meantime.
The Prachanda-Nepal Group plans to implement the decision of the Standing Committee with the approval of the Central Committee.
The Oli faction, which has a minority in the standing and central committees, is under pressure. Therefore, the group argues that the transitional committee cannot take a majority-minority decision. For that, the central committee meeting is scheduled to be held on December 20.
In the political proposal submitted in the Secretariat meeting on November 13, Prachanda had stated that Prime Minister Oli has to ‘sacrifice for the party and the country’.
Dahal in his political dossier has stated that the almost two-thirds majority government could not live up to the expectations of the people, failed to control corruption, irregularities, coronavirus pandemic, and maintain good governance.
Similarly, Oli in his proposal has pointed out Prachanda’s checkered past life since the insurgency and leveled various accusations against him.
On November 13, Prachanda had tabled a 19-long political proposal, pointing out various issues on Prime Minister Oli at the Secretariat meeting.
After 10 days in the Secretariat meeting held on November 28, Oli had presented a 38-long page political dossier in response to Dahal’s proposal.
In recent months, the ruling NCP has witnessed an intra-party dispute over the appointment of ambassadors, a Cabinet reshuffle, a dispute in Karnali Province, a vendetta among party cadres in Tarai districts, RAW Chief’s meeting with PM Oli.
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