KATHMANDU: Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Chairmen KP Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal have agreed to pick Agni Sapkota as the new Speaker, party sources said.

A meeting of the party’s Secretariat this afternoon will officially announce Sapkota as the party’s candidate for the post. The post is vacant since October 1, 2019, after Krishna Bahadur Mahara resigned.

Chairman Dahal had on Sunday morning reached the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar to discuss the party’s candidate for a new Speaker. The meeting between Oli and Dahal concluded with the decision to call the Secretariat meeting.

Meanwhile, leader Sapkota said he was uninformed about the decision.

“Two Chairmen held a meeting this morning. I have been informed that a Secretariat meeting has been slated for later today,” Sapkota told Khabarhub, “I am unaware of any such decision.”

He added he is in a dilemma as some leaders and well-wishers have started congratulating him.

The ruling party was under pressure to pick a candidate for the post as a meeting of House of Representatives has been slated for Monday. The meeting of Parliament has been postponed time and again as the leaders have been at loggerheads about Speaker.

While Prime Minister K P Oli was for picking former Speaker Subas Nembang as the candidate for the Speaker, Dahal was insisting that leader Sapkota was eligible for the post.