KATHMANDU: Nepal Communist Party (NCP) chairman duo KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal have decided to assign Province Committee to settle the dispute of NCP’s Karnali Province.

Stating that NCP headquarters’ interference in the dispute cropped up in the province would establish a wrong trend, the nearly two-hour-long meeting Tuesday morning between the NCP Chairmen has agreed to send the dispute back to Karnali Province committee for settlement.

“The meeting between the two heavyweights has decided to assign the Province Committee to settle the dispute originated from there,” Dahal’s secretariat said, adding, “The chairmen concluded that the party headquarters’ interference could further complicate the issue rather than resolving it,  and they decided to ask the province leaders to resolve it.”

As many as 18 provincial lawmakers of the ruling NCP had filed a no confidence motion against incumbent Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi on October 11, taking the power tussle between Chief Minister Shahi and another influential leader of NCP Yam Lal Kandel to a new height. Responding quickly to the motion, Chief Minister Shahi had dismissed the party’s Chief whip and appointed a new one.

Fearing that the conflict could get further complicated, Chairmen had called the leaders of both sides to Kathmandu for further discussion.

Meanwhile, immediately after the dispute arose, NCP Central Committee Member(CCM) Niraj Acharya had met with some more leaders of the province and convinced them to withdraw the ‘no-confidence’ proposal.

“In a way, the dispute was resolved earlier, yet the chairmen had called the leaders at the center.” CCM Acharya said, “ I am happy that the chairmen again trusted the province committee for settling the dispute.”

Acharya expressed satisfaction at the latest decision saying it was as per the spirit of federalism.