KATHMANDU: In a gesture of patching up the differences between Prime Minister KP Oli and Nepal Communist Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”, President Bidhya Bhandari on Tuesday offered Prachanda the post of Prime Minister after one year.
President Bhandari also offered the post of single Chairman of the NCP after the party’s upcoming general convention during a meeting held at the President’s Office in Shital Niwas between the two on Tuesday evening.
If the source close to Prachanda is to be believed, President Bhandari had also asked Dahal to sign an agreement with PM Oli to this regard.
The source said that President Bhandari also talked about the agreement reached between PM Oli and Dahal during the time of unification.
“You all need to keep the party intact,” the source quoted President Bhandari as saying while assuring Dahal of premiership next year to hold the election.
“Leaders as well as people have trust on you,” she told Prachanda.
Sources also claimed that President Bhandari promised Prachanda would remain the party’s Executive Chairman until the General Convention and, then after, work as a sole Chairmanship.
She is also learnt to have showed Prachanda the same roadmap as she had previously mentioned.
“Be assured, you will lead the government to hold the next general election,” the source quoted President Bhandari as telling Prachanda.
President Bhandari also warned that the nation would face unfortunate circumstances if the NCP underwent a split.
According to the source, she had conveyed similar message to NCP Vice Chairman Bam Dev Gautam and Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa – both members of the NCP Secretariat.
“Now that, it is your turn to govern. Since I have already become the President for two tenures, I cannot come into active politics,” the source quoted President Bhandari as saying to Prachanda, adding, “I want to see a strong and unified party.”
NCP Chairman Dahal, meanwhile, is learnt to have told President Bhandari that it was “too late now” for the deal.
He reiterated his stance saying that Oli should quit one of the two posts.
According to the source, the President also assured that she would play the role of a “guarantor” with PM Oli.
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