KATHMANDU: The much-talked-about Secretariat meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has begun at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar.
All nine members of the Secretariat are attending the meeting.
The meeting is likely to discuss and thrash out the intra-party differences that have taken a new height of late.
Prime Minister KP Oli, who was adamant about postponing the meeting is also present in the meeting, sources have said.
Earlier today, PM Oli had met President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and discussed the ongoing situation.
Prime Minister Oli and Dahal had earlier reached a gentleman agreement to hold the Secretariat meeting without entering into any specific agendas following pressure from northern neighbor China, .
According to Baluwatar sources, Prime Minister Oli decided not to take any steps following the meetings with President Bidhya Bhandari this morning and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi on Tuesday evening.
Similarly, Chairman Dahal has agreed to hold today’s meeting without discussing any specific agendas and defer the meeting for some days.
NCP Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” had on Tuesday rebuffed PM Oli’s proposal to defer the scheduled Secretariat meeting.
The faction led by Prachanda was adamant about convening the meeting on Wednesday despite an urge by the PM Oli-led faction to postpone it for the time being.
PM Oli-led faction had proposed the disgruntled section of the leaders to hold the meeting later sometime by forging a consensus.
A meeting of the KP Oli-led faction had on Tuesday convened a meeting to chart its strategy in an effort to postpone the Secretariat meeting.
PM Oli had said he was ready to convene the meeting of the Secretariat as per the demand of the disgruntled group. “My idea is to hold the meeting on the basis of consensus,” a leader close to PM Oli had conceded.
The source quoted the Prime Minister as saying further, “I am not against the idea of holding the meeting. I want it to be held on the basis of understanding in a conducive environment.”
Meanwhile, in what was seen as an endeavor to avert the “imminent” split of the ruling NCP, Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi had on Tuesday evening met with PM Oli and suggested the latter to keep the party intact.
Highly-placed security sources told Khabarhub that Ambassador Yanqi entered Prime Minister KP Oli’s official residence, Baluwatar at 8:10 pm on Tuesday and made an exit at around 10:10 pm after holding two hours of talks with PM Oli.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yanqi’s meeting on Tuesday evening comes at a time when the intra-party conflict of the NCP has reached a new height.
Soon after the meeting with Yanqi, PM Oli reached President’s office at Shital Niwas to discuss the current imbroglio within the party.
What transpired between PM Oli and Ambassador Yanqi, however, has not been made public.
However, speculations are that Ambassador Yanqi, as always, has initiated moves to avert split in the ruling NCP.
It has been speculated that Ambassador Yanqi “influenced” PM Oli to work unitedly by making the party intact.
It may be noted that Yanqi has been accustomed to intensifying meetings with the NCP top-notch leaders to prevent the party from splitting.
She had also met and discussed with the NCP top leaders, including NCP Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal in May this year when the party was on the verge of a split.
Also Read,
Oli, Dahal reach gentleman agreement not to enter into any specific agendas
Chinese Ambassador Yanqi makes another frantic move to avert NCP split
NCP Executive Chair Dahal holds talks with leaders of his camp
NCP facing toughest crisis, tweets Minister Bhattarai
NCP Gen Secy Paudel holds talks with NCP VP Gautam
PM Oli calls emergency cabinet meeting overlapping Secretariat meeting
Comment