KATHMANDU: The ruling Nepal Communist Party is caught in a quagmire whether or not to go ahead with today’s scheduled meeting of the Standing Committee (SC) owing to the respective stance of Prime Minister KP Oli and Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.
While PM Oli is in favor of postponing the meeting, Prachanda wants to hold it at any cost.
Sources have claimed that Prachanda is heading towards Prime Minister’s official residence, Baluwatar where most of the SC members have already gathered for the meeting.
“The meeting will be held today as we are already here,” NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said.
However, sources have claimed that SC members of the PM Oli camp are not in the venue.
Earlier, reports were that the SC meeting was postponed indefinitely after PM Oli did not budge an inch from his stance of not holding the scheduled meeting.
According to NCP sources, the SC meeting was said to be postponed to allow time for Prime Minister Oli and Chairman Dahal to narrow down differences and finalize agendas for the meeting in line with the Secretariat decision.
The SC has been deadlocked for a long time after PM Oli and Dahal could not resolve their differences on some thorny issues in the party.
The intra-party feud has deepened further after Dahal-Nepal camp started demanding Oli’s resignation.
On the other hand, Oli is adamant to not resign from both of his posts.
He seems to have a graceful exit by handing over the post through the upcoming general convention of the party.
With both the leaders remaining adamant not to budge an inch from their respective stances, several one-on-one meetings between the two heavyweights in the past ended inconclusively.
The SC meeting which started since June 24 has been postponed time and again after Oli’s resignation entered as an agenda in the meeting.
The dispute is primarily centered on whether Oli should resign from the post of chairman immediately or through the upcoming general convention in line with the statute of the party.
Senior leaders Jhala Nath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, and Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha had urged Chairman Dahal not to postpone Tuesday’s SC meeting, suggesting the latter to sort out the issue through the meeting itself.
Even though Dahal-Nepal group was preparing not to stop the SC meeting, Oli group had said the SC meeting would take place only after Oli and Dahal strike deal on the disputed issue.
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