KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Oli, Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal are holding a meeting today to narrow down their differences on some thorny issues within the party.

Senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal is participating in today’s meeting that began at Baluwatar at 11:30 am following a series of one-on-one meetings in the past between the two heavyweights reaching nowhere.

Deputy Parliamentary Party leader Subas Nembang said Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, ruling party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal are holding a tripartite meeting at the Prime Minister’s official residence, Baluwatar.

“Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Nepal Communist Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal are participating in a tripartite meeting at Baluwatar.   The meeting is expected to sort out intra-party differences today since top leaders are involved in the meeting,” said Subas Nembang.

A meeting held on Wednesday at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar had ended inconclusively with both the leaders remaining adamant to their respective stance.

Despite holdings talks for more than two-and-a-half-hours, there were no signs of budging an inch.

According to Surya Thapa, the Press Advisor to the Prime Minister, today’s meeting will be a continuation of the series of talks between the two aimed at finalizing the agenda for the Standing Committee (SC) meeting to be held on Friday.

The SC meeting of the NCP has been postponed time and again after the one-on-one meeting between Dahal and Oli have ended inconclusively.

Earlier, two heavyweights had held one-on-one meetings for six times (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday a week ago and on July 14 and 15 after six days) but without success.

The SC meeting slated for July 10 was postponed for July 17 stating that the whole party rank and file had to participate in rescue and relief operations for flood victims.

The intra-party feud of the ruling NCP has deepened after most of the Standing Committee members demanded resignation of Prime Minister Oli from both of his posts.

Senior leader Nepal and his aides are disappointed as they have not been involved in the talks. It is learned that NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha, too, is dissatisfied with the ‘one-on-one’ dialogue between the NCP top guns.

The party leadership is currently under pressure to keep the party intact since around 53 central committee members of the party had earlier initiated a signature campaign to convene the party’s central committee meeting.

They have argued that the meeting of the 441-member central committee will be more impactful than the 45-member Standing Committee.

According to the NCP statute, the leadership will have to call the meeting of the central committee if 25 percent, i.e., 110 members signed the document.