KATHMANDU: The much-awaited Standing Committee meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has been postponed.

Prime Minister KP Oli’s press advisor Surya Thapa informed that the meeting has been postponed until 3 pm today.

The meeting, which has been deadlocked for a long time due to intra-party differences, will now take place at 3 pm this afternoon. The decision to this effect was made to give more time to party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Prime Minister KP Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal to thrash out differences.

Today’s meeting, however, is also unlikely to reach consensus as the tripartite meeting held between Prime Minister Oli, Chairman Dahal and senior leader Nepal have shown no sign of flexibility.

The SC meeting is also likely to set the date for the Central Committee meeting, according to Mani Thapa, a SC member. “Prime Minister Oli, Dahal and Nepal in the meeting on Thursday agreed to settle their differences on some thorny issues within the party through the Central Committee meeting,” said Thapa.

Besides, the SC meeting today will also discuss issues including the loss of lives and properties caused by the monsoon mayhem and the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the tripartite meeting at Baluwatar on Thursday, Oli and Dahal-Nepal camps held meetings separately with the leaders of their respective groups.

Prime Minister Oli held discussions with leaders of his faction after a talk with Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ failed to make any headway.

Deputy Prime Minister and NCP Secretariat member Ishwar Pokharel, General Secretary Bishnu Poudel, Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party Subas Nembang and other leaders took part in the meeting at the prime minister’s residence in Baluwatar.

Similarly, Dahal-Nepal camp also held a meeting with the leaders of their camp at Dahal’s residence in Khumaltar.

The leaders participating in the Khumaltar meeting on Thursday evening included senior leader Jhala Nath Khanal, NCP Vice Chairman Bamdev Gautam, Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha, SC members Bhim Rawal, Astalaxmi Shakya, Raghuji Panta, Gokarna Bista, Beduram Bhusal, Matrika Yadav, Janardan Sharma and Phampha Bhusal.

The meeting concluded that the intra-party differences should be  settled through the CC meeting.